


Underfell

by TheAwkwardLadyJay



Category: Underfell - Fandom
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, But there is fluff, Everybody is mean, F/M, Fell!Papyrus - Freeform, Fell!Sans - Freeform, Frisk is a Sweetheart, Frisk is a girl, Frisk just wants to help, Sans is a jerk at first, Suicide Attempt, Underfell, Undertale AU, background alphys/undyne - Freeform, it's a little gory, not a lot of fluff, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-11 14:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 35,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11716455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAwkwardLadyJay/pseuds/TheAwkwardLadyJay
Summary: After a failed suicide attempt, Frisk finds herself in the underground, where monsters hungrily await to tear her apart. Flowey, a golden flower, helps her on her treacherous journey, but she soon finds that not everyone is as they seem and sometimes, even the worst kinds of people deserve mercy.





	1. Heartbreak

**Author's Note:**

> Heya! This is my first work here, so please be gentle. I fell in love with the Underfell AU as soon as I saw it and I've been waiting for enough time to finally write it. And here it is! I'm happy with how it turned out and I really hope ya'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
> Enjoy!
> 
> Lady Jay out

Pain. All she knew was pain. There were people laughing at her, kids to busy beating her to listen to her pleas, and adults, to amused by the children’s drama to help her. Then there was the yelling, her parents standing over her and screaming at each other. They threw things at each other, sometimes turning to her and chucking things her way. She ducked away from the item, but it always hit her. And then there was the blood. Blood was everywhere and everything was red. It dripped from the ceiling, falling onto the lifeless form below it with a soft 'tick'. Her hand felt heavy, but so did the rest of her. She closed her eyes, and screamed.

Suddenly, everything went silent. Darkness was her only companion. She allowed herself to hope. Had she done it this time? Is this what it felt like to be dead?

Slowly, she opened her eyes and drew in a deep, hopeless breath. She was still alive. Tears trickled from her eyes and she looked up, anger growing within her as she stared at the opening she had fallen through. Why did nothing work? No matter what she did, she just couldn't die. Carefully, she sat up and looked around, noticing the large patch of golden flowers she had fallen onto. They were covered in red, blood dripping from their petals, but she could tell what type of flower they were.

She hated these flowers. She remembered her mother sprinkling them into water and sipping from the cup, smiling at the taste. Her father would always bring them home, handing them to his wife with a kind smile and a tweaked eyebrow. But she knew that the flowers weren't a sign of love. Her mother was addicted to them and her father was nothing more than an enabler.

Carefully, wincing as pain throbbed through her leg, she stood, looking over her leg and sighing in disappointment. Nothing was broken. She had just sprained an ankle. She wandered around the small area she was in, looking around at the walls, squinting in the darkness. Her foot knocked against something that tumbled across the floor. She looked down and felt a small amount of hope. On the floor was a jagged stone that had fallen from the surface. She picked it up and smiled, pressing her finger onto the tip, a small drip of blood slipping down the side.

She pressed the tip to her wrist and prepared to drag it across the soft skin, "Hello?" A quiet voice called, the word shaky, "Is somebody there?"

She stopped and looked up, annoyance on her face. Couldn't she just die in peace?

"You can't sneak up on me, you know? I already know you're there, so you may as well show yourself!" The voice called again.

She rolled her eyes and slid the stone into her pocket, rolling her sleeve down, covering the bundle of scars already present there, and headed in the direction of the voice, planning on getting rid of the visitor so she could just kill herself already. She walked through an old doorway and stopped short. In front of her sat a single golden flower, a face sprouting from the center of its petals, tear streaks obvious on its cheeks, even from where she was standing.

The flower caught sight of her and his face shifted, turning into a ghoul like expression, makeshift fangs sprouting from his lips and his eyes growing into soulless holes, "Howdy!" He cried, fake joy obvious in his voice, "I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower! You're new to the underground, aren't'cha?"

The girl nodded and the flower looked around, "Well, someone ought to tell you how things work around here," he grimaced painfully, "and I guess little old me will have to do." A little white pellet appeared next to the girl and Flowey sneered, "In this world, it's kill or be killed. Now DIE!!!!"

The pellet raced towards her and the girl flinched, stepping backwards as the small object came within grabbing distance. She squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for whatever the pellet was going to do.

But nothing happened.  
She peeked one eye open and let out a breath. The pellet was hovering mere centimeters from her nose, its small mass shaking slightly, as if it still wanted to move forward. She looked past it at Flowey, who was hunched over, his leaves drooping and his stem slouched.

"I can't do it," he whispered, "I can't kill you," he laughed manically, "A defenseless human walks up and I can't even kill them."

The girl didn't say anything, just watched the flower as he talked to himself, his face contorting, stretching and shrinking grotesquely.

"This is it, my one chance to leave this hellish place, to get revenge on her. And I can't even do it. I'm pathetic," the flower was murmuring, looking manic, "I just need one soul and I can leave, just one. And I can't even take it," he turned to Frisk and yelled, "Why can't I kill you!?"

The girl snorted and whispered, "Because I can't die. Trust me. I've tried to kill myself many times. It never works."

Suddenly, a fireball appeared next to the flower, its shimmering light illuminating his golden petals. He stared at it in horror and quickly disappeared into the ground, the fireball slamming into the place where he had been.

Soft footsteps could be heard and the girl turned towards them, her eyes widening when she saw the owner. A tall goat woman was walking into the room, her eyes bloodshot and a small smile on her lips, "What a horrible creature," she said, voice soft, "sparing such a disgusting youth." She sneered at the girl, her sharp fangs glinting in the dim light, "Are you afraid, child?" She asked quietly, "Because you should be. I am Toriel, guardian of the ruins. It is my job to protect this place from disgusting filth like you," an insane look entered her eye and she smirked, "And if I have a little bit of fun while I do so, that is merely a bonus."

Flames appeared around the girl and began to close in on her, Toriel watching them hungrily. The human looked around at them, acceptance resting over her face.

"Hey!" Flowey called from the edge of the room, "Over here!"

The girl looked over at him and, instinctively, she ducked under the circle of fireballs and ran at him, following him closely as he popped in and out of the ground like a gopher.

Toriel's yells could be heard behind them and they made the girl and the flower move faster, the woman's heavy footsteps getting louder and louder as she caught up with them.

As they ran, the girl saw several different monsters that looked ready to fight, their faces set in scowls and their spiked armor and sharp talons glimmering in the light. However, as soon as they heard Toriel running after the two, they quickly scattered, disappearing into whatever hole happened to be closest.

They passed puzzle after puzzle, Flowey quickly solving each one, not wasting any time. Soon, they came to a puzzle that he couldn't solve at a glance, a large row of spikes that didn't seem to be passable.

He growled in frustration and looked over his shoulder, sweat forming on his forehead as Toriel laughed somewhere in the distance. He looked back at the puzzle and shook his head, turning to Frisk, "Okay, human, we're going to try something. If it doesn't work, you'll probably die, but something tells me you won't really mind that."

The girl shrugged and mumbled, "You're probably right."

The flower nodded and wrapped a long vine around the girl's waist, picking her up and tossing her across the spikes, disappearing into the ground before he could see if she landed on the other side. He popped back up right as she slammed into the ground, a sickening crunch sounding as her nose smashed into the hard rock.

Flowey shook her shoulder and urged her to get up, looking back over the spikes nervously. He paled as Toriel appeared, her face set in a scowl, her red eyes blazing with rage, "You might be able to run," she snarled, making her way across the spikes carefully, the ones she stepped on disappearing into the ground, "but you cannot run forever. Soon, I will catch you and then we will eat."

Frisk slowly got up and began limping towards the exit, one hand pressed against her nose, which was slowly spurting blood. Flowey followed behind her, keeping an eye on Toriel. The goat woman grinned as she watched her prey run and summoned a fireball, tossing it at the girl nonchalantly.

The flower deflected it and hissed, "Human, if you could move faster, that would great."

The girl hummed in pain and did just that, letting go of her nose and beginning to run. Flowey sighed in relief and followed, moving in front of the girl and paling as they came to a long hallway that had nothing in it, "Crap," he mumbled, "We're going to have to move fast. If we can stay in front of her, we'll be okay."

The girl nodded and they ran, the hallway seeming to go on forever. As the end came into sight, the girl was gasping for breath, her chest heaving and sweat pouring down her face. She noticed a large, old pillar standing next to the door and she leaped for it, grabbing one of Flowey's roots and dragging him behind it with her. The flower squawked and the girl slapped a hand over his mouth, glaring at him. She pressed a finger to her lips and peeked around the pillar, quickly ducking back behind it when Toriel came into view.

The woman strolled through the hallway, looking from side to side methodically, her nostrils flaring as she sniffed the air, "I can smell you, child," she sang, "I may not be the best at hide and seek, but I am patient. You will have to come out at some point, and when you do, I will be ready."

She continued walking and passed the pillar, stopping next to it and sniffing, her small horns glinting in the cavern light. The girl stopped breathing, turning to Flowey, her eyes wide and apologetic. The flower stared back at her, his eyes full of terror. Toriel sniffed again and then shrugged, moving past the pillar and disappearing around the corner.

When they were sure she was gone, the two crept out from behind the pillar, looking around warily. Once he had checked every direction for the goat woman, he turned to the girl and snarled, "What were you thinking?! If she had looked around that pillar, we would have been dead! You may be ready to get killed, but I'm not! I've fought way too hard to stay alive just to be killed by some stupid brat's mistake!"

The girl scowled at him, her short, brown hair sticking to her sweaty skin, "I just saved our lives. My leg is injured and I can't run forever. If we had kept going, I would have fallen and she would have caught up to us. So shut up."

The flower took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I just... that shouldn't have worked. I don't handle things like that very well."

The girl sighed and nodded, "I'm sorry too. I should have told you what I had in mind. But it's okay. We're still alive and Toriel is now ahead of us. We don't have to worry about her anymore."

The flower nodded, "That's true, but let's not take our time. She has ways of finding things around here."

The girl nodded and they started walking, the flower looking at her every now and then, a curious look on his face. He opened his mouth, closed it again and then turned away, only to repeat the process. The fifth time he did this, the girl rolled her eyes and grumbled, "If you have a question, just ask. I'm not going to bite you."

Flowey immediately asked, "What's your name?"

The girl looked a little surprised, "My name's Frisk. Did I never tell you?"

The flower shook his head, "You never had the chance."

Frisk yelped as her leg suddenly gave out on her, her knees slamming into the ground and her nose beginning to bleed again. Flowey looked at her in concern, "Are you okay? Isn't the red stuff supposed to stay inside you?"

Frisk snickered, "Oh, no. I'm fine. Us humans drip random red juice daily. It's part of our cleansing system."

Flowey looked unimpressed and rolled his eyes, "Stay here. I'll be right back with something that will help."

He disappeared into the ground and Frisk sat up, rubbing her sore leg tiredly. A few minutes passed and Flowey hadn't returned. She started to get nervous. There was rustling all around her. Things were moving in the shadows, creatures that wanted to harm her. She could feel them watching her. A loud thud made her whirl around and she gasped. Sitting in front of her was a large frog, it's big, red eyes glaring at her. She bit her bottom lip nervously and slowly stood up, hissing as pain shot up her leg. The large spikes on the frog's back slowly rose up and down as the creature breathed, its talons digging into the dirt, the slime covering every inch of it shimmering in the light.

They watched each other for a moment before the frog attacked, lashing out with its slick tongue. Frisk hopped to the side, looking around desperately for something to defend herself with. There was nothing. She hissed and turned back to the frog, dodging another slimy attack, "I don't want to fight," she pleaded, "I just want to be left alone."

The frog looked at her for a moment, seeming to think over her words, before it attacked again, its tongue scraping Frisk's elbow. The girl cried out in pain, looking at the spot and grimacing. The skin where the frog's saliva had touched was slowly burning away. She wiped as much of the acidic spit off as she could and cried, "Please, I don't want to fight."

The monster tilted his head and almost looked curious, watching her carefully as she balanced on one foot, looking at it desperately. After a moment, it turned and hopped away, leaving behind nothing but a few footprints to show it was ever there. Frisk sighed in relief and fell to the ground, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, burying her face in her legs.

A few more minutes passed and Flowey finally returned, his leaves cradling several somethings, "Here," he said, dropping small candies in front Frisk, "This is monster candy. It will heal you."

The human picked one up and looked at it curiously, "How is this supposed to heal me?"

The flower shrugged, "I don't know. Magic."

The girl shrugged and popped the candy into her mouth, her eyes widening when she instantly felt better. Her nose stopped bleeding and a soft crunch was heard as it set itself back into place. She looked down at her swollen ankle and gasped, watching the swelling go down in amazement, "How is this possible?"

"It's monster food. We don't really have stomachs, since we're made of magic, so our food just heals us instead of feeding us. We need it, but not for the same reason you do."

Frisk nodded and stood, gesturing for the flower to follow her as she moved forward, the only sign of her injuries the blood that was staining her skin.

As they walked, Flowey asked nonstop questions about the girl, most about why she was down here and where she had come from. She didn't answer any of them. They passed puzzle after puzzle, Frisk quickly solving all of them, not missing a beat as she moved past them. Eventually, they reached a room that had a seemingly impassible obstacle.

In the middle of the room, laying on a pile of leaves was a large white ghost. He had black and red head phones on and was repeating the word, "Z," over and over to himself. Frisk looked at him in disdain, whispering to Flowey, "Does this really look like the best place to sleep?"

The flower glared at the ghost, "That's Napstablook. He'll sleep anywhere that's in the way. He's annoying like that."

"You're annoying," the ghost suddenly spoke, sitting up and glaring at the two, "What kind of monster wakes up someone who is happily pretending to sleep? It's disgusting." Frisk paled as the ghost rose into the air, his scowl darkening and a red tint surrounding him, "I'm going to have to teach you a lesson and I don't think you're going to enjoy it."

Flowey rolled his eyes, "See what I mean? He gets off on this attention. He thinks it's dramatic."

"I can hear you, ya' know. And you're lesson just got several times harder."

Frisk glared at the flower and then hissed, looking down at her arm, where a small drop of liquid was sliding from her elbow to her wrist, leaving a long, red strip behind it. She gaped at the ghost, who had started to cry at her, tears floating from his eyes to her. She jumped around wildly, avoiding them the best she could, but they were too small to see and she got hit more than she dodged. Eventually, she stopped and bent over, resting her hands on her knees and gasping for breath, her bangs sticking to her sweaty forehead. She looked up at Napstablook, searching for any kind of weakness to knock him out with. She couldn't find anything, the ghost seeming to be nothing more than some edgy paranormal activity.

Flowey glared at the ghost and yelled, "Why don't you go back to your room? I can guarantee you're more wanted there than anywhere else."

Hurt flashed across the ghost's face, disappearing so quickly, Frisk wasn't sure if she had actually seen anything, "Why don't you keep your filthy mouth shut? Last I checked, plants didn't talk," the ghost snarled back.

Frisk straightened and called quietly, "Hey, Napstablook, are you lonely?"

The ghost blushed, "No. of course not. Loneliness is for losers."

"Then why are you crying?"

Napstablook looked shocked for a minute and then he growled, "It's my attack, you dummy. I can't help it."

Another barrage of tears was sent Frisk's way and she hopped around, gasping for breath by the end of it. Before the ghost could continue to cry at her, she called, "If you wanted, we could hang out some time."

Napstablook froze, staring at her in shock, "I-I-" he stuttered, "Do you mean it?" He whispered. When Frisk nodded, a small, almost nonexistent smile appeared on his face, "I would like that. I've never hung out before."

Frisk watched him happily as he slowly floated into the ceiling, disappearing quickly, a few more tears escaping his eyes before he vanished completely.

Flowey looked at the girl in amazement, "You have some kind of gift. I've never seen anyone get along with that guy."

Frisk shrugged, a dark look entering her eye, "I've had a lot of practice."

They walked into the next room and Frisk jumped, her eyes widening at the massive spider webs that clung to the walls. Each one had a small sign attached to them and Frisk slowly walked up to them, eyeing the webs carefully, searching for any kind of movement in the whiteness.

Spider bake sale!  
All proceeds go to real spiders!  
Spider Donut - 7G  
Spider Cider - 18G

She quickly pulled out the meager amount of money she had collected and sighed in relief. She barely had seven coins. She dropped them into the first web and watched in amazement as a few black spiders dropped from the ceiling and placed a small, frosted donut in the center of the web. They quickly gathered the coins and then disappeared again.

Frisk picked the donut up and grimaced, the texture strange against her fingers. She held the dessert up to her face and paled, almost dropping the item. The entire thing was made up of squished up, dead spiders. She gagged slightly and dropped the item into her pocket, shuddering in disgust.

She left the room quickly and they traveled through the rest of the ruins in silence, the puzzles becoming less and less numerous as they went along. Eventually, they reached a large tree that looked half dead, the branches brittle and bare, the dead leaves covering the ground. They crinkled as Frisk walked over them, a sad sound that made Frisk think of how beautiful they must have been when they were sitting on the tree. She rounded the trunk and froze, staring in horror at Toriel, who was standing in front of her, looking equally surprised.

The goat woman quickly got over her surprise and smiled, the expression extremely unnerving on her face, "Oh, hello, child. I knew you would come out of hiding at some point, but I never imagined you would come straight to me. I appreciate you making my life easier," a fireball appeared in her hand and she grinned, "Are you ready to have some fun?"

Frisk paled and backed away from the woman, her eyes focusing on the fireball. Toriel looked confused, "What's wrong, child? Do you not wish to bake a pie?"

Frisk stopped and looked at her, "What?" She asked dumbly.

"A pie," Toriel responded, "I believe I told you that when we finished our little game of hide and seek, we would eat. Did I not say that?"

Frisk shook her head, "I thought..." she started weakly, looking away from Toriel's mad eyes, "I thought you were going to eat me."

The goat woman laughed, "Oh, child, what an imagination you have. No, of course I wouldn't eat you. Humans are far too stringy to be a delicacy. Now come inside. I've already set up your room and the pie should be done in just a few minutes. I hope you do not mind snail pie. You arrived with such short notice, I could not get the ingredients for anything else."

Frisk hesitantly followed her, looking back at Flowey nervously. She gestured for him to follow, her eyes desperate. The flower watched her fearfully, looking back at Toriel before taking a deep breath and crawling onto Frisk's arm, wrapping his roots around her bicep and slinging his stem over her neck, "I'm with you, Frisk. If we die, then we die together."

The girl smiled at him gratefully, "Thanks, Flowey."

Toriel turned back to Frisk, her smile disappearing when she saw the flower, "Oh," she drawled, "I see we have another visitor. Is this a friend of yours, child?"

Frisk nodded and Toriel looked pained, "I will not tell you how to live your life," she continued, obviously upset, "but I would suggest you find better friends, child. Some people around here are backstabbers."

Flowey grimaced as they came up to a small building that looked unlived in. Toriel gestured to it excitedly, looking at the human hopefully, "This is my home, child. I hope you like it."

Frisk nodded, looking at the unhinged door and the dust covered roof, "It's... lovely," she replied, hoping none of her disappointment could be heard in her voice.

The goat woman grinned and entered the home, calling over her shoulder, "Come in, come in. Everything is ready for you."

Flowey sighed and flopped over on Frisk's shoulder, "Are you sure about this, Frisk? I'm pretty positive if we go in there, she'll eat us."

Frisk looked at the door warily, "I'm more worried about tetanus, but do you have any other ideas? We have to go through here to get out of the ruins. Even if she did want to eat us, we wouldn't have much of a choice. So stop whining. We'll be fine."

She walked into the small home and immediately sneezed, clouds of dust lifting into the air with every step. Toriel padded into the room, her small smile still extremely disconcerting, "There you are, child. The pie is just cooling now, so why don't you take a nap? I will wake you when it is ready," she grabbed Frisk's arm and dragged her to a dusty, blue door, opening it and tossing the girl in, "This is your room. Sleep well."

She slammed the door shut and Frisk stood, brushing the dust off her clothes, "Well, we're still alive. See? We'll be fine."

"We still have to find the exit and get out, though. Do you think she's just going to let us leave? The woman is insane and obviously, she wants some company. If we're lucky, we're just her prisoners. If we're not... let's not think about that, actually."

Frisk laughed, "Flowey, we're going to be fine. We just wait for her to fall asleep and then we sneak out. I noticed that there was a basement. I'm guessing the exit is going to be down there, so it won't be a problem," she patted the twin bed and coughed when a billow of dust hit her in the face, "So I'm going to sleep for a bit. Wake me up if she tries to kill anyone."

Flowey watched her curl up on the floor and shook his head, curling up next to her, "You are a strange one," he mumbled, "but maybe strange is exactly what this place needs."

When they awoke, Frisk sat up and stretched. She poked Flowey and gently picked him up, wrapping him around her shoulders. He grumbled tiredly and nestled into her neck, falling back to sleep. She left the room and started to explore, wandering down the hall, looking at the pictures hanging on the walls. Each one held a small monster that looked like a mini Toriel. He had the same white fur and floppy ears. No horns had sprouted on his head yet, but his eyes were big, red and happy. She smiled as she walked along, watching as the young goat monster got bigger. The last picture was a little different than all the others. Instead of just the young boy, there were four people in the picture. The young boy was present, his contagious smile lighting up the photo. Next to him stood a young human, their face covered by a bundle of golden flowers. Frisk looked closer at them, trying to make out any features, but the child had carefully hidden their entire face, only their green and yellow striped shirt and green pants visible. Behind the two stood two adults, one of which was obviously Toriel, her eyes normal looking and her smile almost warm and comforting. Next to her was a bunch of scribbles, nothing but a large hand and a sharp horn visible. She put the picture down and left, heading back down the hall, a feeling of guilt growing in her gut as she snooped around. She passed a set of stairs that were heading down and stopped in front of them, looking down them curiously. Surely the exit was down there. In every story she had ever read, if something if something important was in a house, it was in the basement. She nodded assuredly to herself and moved on, faltering in the next room when she saw Toriel sitting in a large armchair, a book open on her lap and a pair of glasses balanced on her snout.

The woman looked up at her entrance, "Oh, hello, dear. It's good that you're awake. If you had slept any longer, your pie would have gone cold. It's just sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Go ahead and help yourself."

Frisk walked past her into the kitchen, her face paling as a putrid smell hit her nostrils. She covered her nose and looked around for the source, gagging when she found it. On the counter sat a large pie that was dripping goo. She walked up to it and poked it, quickly retracting her finger when it moved. She gagged again when she realized that the snail pie was made with live snails.

Flowey blinked awake at Frisk's disgusted noises and looked at the pie, his face contorting in horror, "What is that?"

"Snail pie," Frisk replied, her nose still plugged.

The flower grimaced in disgust and poked the pie himself, scooping a small amount of the goo into his mouth, his eyes widening in surprise, "If you can get over the smell, it's actually quite good. And it has a really good healing factor. If I were you, I would take a piece."

Frisk grimaced, but grabbed a napkin, wrapping a piece of the gooey mess in it and shoving it into her pocket. She quickly left the kitchen, sighing in relief when the smell didn't follow her. Toriel was still sitting in her chair, engrossed in her book. Frisk quietly walked past her, leaving the room and stopping in front of the stairs again, looking at Flowey out of the corner of her eye, "Should I?"

Flowey looked back at the living room and nodded, "The sooner we leave, the better."

Frisk quietly ran down the stairs, freezing when one of them squeaked loudly. Her eyes widened when she heard the sound of Toriel moving, her heavy footsteps heading towards the stairs. Before the woman could even begin descending the stairway, the girl took off, jumping over the rest of the stairs and running as soon as her feet hit the ground. Flowey stayed quiet on her shoulder, his eyes squeezed shut and his entire body tensed. Frisk ran as fast as she could, sprinting down the long hallway that sprawled in front of her.

But Toriel was faster. She quickly caught up with the girl, her eyes blazing with rage and her hands engulfed in flame, "Where are you going, child?! You will not leave me! I refuse to lose another one!"

Frisk ran faster, terror filling her when a fireball landed a few feet away from her. She screamed as one flew into her back, knocking her over and burning into her skin. Toriel stood over her, tears streaming down her face, "Aren't you happy with me, child?" She sobbed, "Do you really hate this place so much that you would run away?"

Frisk scrambled up, wincing as her back throbbed, "I can't stay here," she explained, looking at Toriel desperately, hoping she would understand, "I don't belong in this place. I need to go home."

"But this is your home," Toriel cried, her hands grasping the air hopelessly, "If you leave this place, Asgore will kill you. I can't stand to lose another one. Please, child, come back upstairs with me. We'll live a happy life together, I promise."

Frisk shook her head, "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I can't." Before Toriel had time to react, she turned and ran, dashing around a corner and disappearing from the woman's sight. She picked up speed as she heard Toriel coming up behind her, the woman's long legs giving her the advantage in the chase.

"Please," Toriel cried, "Don't make me hurt you!"

Frisk ignored her and ran faster. Fireballs rained around her, many coming mere centimeters from hitting her. Flowey looked behind them and yelled whenever she was about to get hit, telling her which way to dodge. Toriel's broken sobs slowly turned into roars of anger as she continued to miss, her frustration making the fireballs bigger, their heat washing over Frisk as she dodged. Eventually, she reached a large door and slammed into it, pushing against it desperately. It didn't budge.

Flowey looked back at Toriel, who was slowly advancing, and whispered frantically into Frisk's ear, "Come on, Frisk. Push harder. If we don't get out now, she's going to kill us."

Toriel stopped when she was right behind them, tears still streaming from her eyes, "You will be the ninth child I have lost," she said, voice breaking, "The ninth child I have lost to Asgore," a fireball appeared in her hand, illuminating her face, highlighting the insanity in her eyes and the to-many teeth in her smile, "I may as well kill you now. You are dead either way."

Frisk paled and whispered, "Please, Toriel. I don't belong here. I think you would be a wonderful mother, but I can't grow up here."

The woman's eyes filled with fresh tears and the fireball extinguished. She fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably, "You are right. I am sorry, child. My desires, my fears... my loneliness. It got the better of me. I know that you do not belong here, but that does not mean that I do not want you too. So, please, child, leave before I do kill you. When you are gone, I will destroy the exit. That way, my misery can never affect anyone on the other side of this gate."

Frisk looked at the broken woman, tears filling her own eyes as she watched her sob. Carefully, she walked up to the lady and wrapped her arms around her, squeezing tightly. Toriel gasped in surprise and wrapped her own arms around the girl, sobbing into her shoulder, holding onto the human as if her life depended on it. After a moment, the woman let go and stood, wiping her tears away, "Thank you, child. I think I would have greatly enjoyed raising you. Good luck on your journeys. Stay safe."

She turned and walked away and Frisk turned to the door, quickly wiping her own tears away. She pushed against the heavy door, her feet sliding against the smooth, rock floor. Achingly slowly, the door started to open, the hinges squealing loudly. When it was open far enough, Frisk slid through and it slammed shut, the bang echoing through the silent, snowy forest she had found herself in. She leaned against the door and slid to the ground, ignoring the cold as the snow soaked into her clothes. She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes, her hands balling into fists as her breathing became heavier, tears welling up in her eyes.

Flowey gently brushed a leaf against her cheek, "You okay, Frisk?"

"I came down here to take away my pain. I was done with this world. Life had given up on me and I was so ready to give up on it, but this..." she gestured feebly at the doors, "I can't give up knowing that there's someone living in such misery. She just wanted someone that she could love, Flowey. That's all. She said that I'm the ninth child she's lost. Can you imagine going through that pain nine times? I can't give up until she's happy. I can't give up until everyone down here is happy," her tears flowed over, dripping down her face as she sobbed, "Will you help me, Flowey?"

The flower thought about it for a moment, looking at the trees and watching the snow fall, "I like the idea of being happy," he mumbled, "And I don't know if it's possible, but I would like to see that world."

The girl stood, wiping her tears and smiling, "Then it's settled. We're saving everyone down here, whether they like it or not." She started walking, following the path nestled in the trees, her footprints stark against the smooth whiteness.

Flowey turned around to look back at the doors and he tensed, turning back around and whispering urgently, "There's someone behind us. Don't go any faster, but be prepared for anything."

Frisk nodded and hopped over a large branch, looking up at the trees overhead to locate where it had fallen from, taking a look behind them out of the corner of her eye as she did so. She didn't see anyone, so she continued walking, taking just a few more steps. A loud crack suddenly filled the air and she froze, turning around to see the branch lying in pieces. 

She turned to Flowey, eyes wide, and the flower hissed, "Run."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fixed the formatting a little bit, so hopefully it will be a little easier to read. Let me know! Thanks!


	2. Frozen to the Bone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Away from the Ruins and Toriel, Frisk enters a new world full of snow. Here, she runs across some interesting characters who aren't as concerned about her well being as Toriel was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I honestly don't know how I feel about this chapter. Our buddies Sans and Papyrus make their first appearance and I can't help but feel like they're a little bit off. Let me know what you guys think! I also did not have time to proofread this, so please excuse any mistakes. And just a warning, things get a little bloody  
>    
> Lady Jay out

She took off, running as fast as she could in the ankle deep snow. She saw a bridge with large bars blocking it ahead and picked up speed, hoping to cross it before the monster caught up with her. She was inches away from it when she suddenly couldn't move. She grunted as she tried to get her legs to listen to her, but no matter how hard she pushed, they wouldn't budge.

The crunching of footsteps came up behind her and she struggled harder, trying to even just twitch a finger. The footsteps stopped behind her and a deep voice said, "Human, don't you know how to greet a superior? Turn around and shake my hand."

Against her will, Frisk turned, her hand raising on its own accord. She looked up into the face of a skeleton, her eyes widening at the sight. The skeleton grasped her hand and, immediately, a painful shock went through her body, her hair standing up on end and her clothes smoking slightly. She fell to the ground with a gasp, "Hehehe," the skeleton laughed, "The old shocker in the hand trick. Never gets old."

Frisk slowly got up, a grimace on her face as she held her hand to her chest, the skin a light red. She met the skeleton’s red eyes and glared at him, his sharp-toothed grin widening, "Why so *cold*, sweetheart? I was just playing a joke. A little welcoming gift, if you will."

Frisk shook her head at him and growled, "Hilarious."

The skeleton raised an eyebrow, the red dots in his empty eye sockets glowing a little brighter, "You've got some attitude for a human. You are a human, right? I'm Sans, Sans the skeleton. And actually, I'm supposed to be on watch for humans right now, but because you made me laugh, I think I'll help you out for a bit. See, I've never really cared about hunting humans, but my brother, Papyrus, he's a human hunting fanatic. In fact, I think that's him right over there."

Frisk turned in the direction the skeleton was pointing and yelped, a bony hand twisting into her hair painfully. The skeleton's warm breath tickled her ear as he hissed, "Don't you know to never turn your back on an enemy? The easiest way to get killed down here. Now, if you don't want to die, I suggest you do everything I tell you, got it?" He yanked on the girl's hair and she whimpered a quiet yes, "Good," he snarled, "Now walk."

The skeleton threw open a gate and marched her over the bridge, throwing her into the snow in front of a small sentry station that had mustard stains all over the counter. Not long after, another skeleton showed up, this one much taller and more threatening than Sans. He had a long, red scarf that billowed out behind him like a cape, the end ragged and torn. He had on a black breastplate, that covered his rib cage, the shoulder pads tapering into deadly points. The bottom of his spine and the tips of his hip bones were visible, their stark whiteness contrasting with the black of his armor and tight pants. He had gloves that were the same color as his scarf and his boots were long and black, red straps going from the middle of the arch up to the knee.

"Hey, boss," Sans said, his voice shaking slightly, "Look what I found wandering around in the woods."  
The taller skeleton looked down at Frisk disdainfully, "Sans, is this what I think it is?"

Sans nodded, "It sure is, Pap. A human, in the flesh and blood."

Papyrus stood up straight and struck a villainous pose, a pleased smile stretching across his face, the scar running down through his right eye shifting slightly, "This is very good work, Sans. With this final soul, I will become the hero of monster kind and Asgore will have no choice but to make me head of the royal guard."

"That's right," Sans mumbled, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, "Then you'll be able to take out the rest of the filthy humans and purge this world of them."

Papyrus grinned, "You have done good, Sans. You can have the rest of the day off while I take this filth to Asgore."

Frisk scrambled off the ground and cried, "Wait!"  
The skeletons looked at her in surprise, Sans growling slightly, "What if I challenge you?" Frisk asked, desperation clear in her voice.

Papyrus looked thoughtful, "Well, that would depend on the conditions. If you give me a good bet, than I will accept."

"But, Pap," Sans started, quickly shutting his mouth when Papyrus sent him a glare, a golden tooth catching Frisk's attention as she turned to look at him.

"Ignore my interrupting brother," Papyrus continued, looking annoyed, "What are your conditions?"

Frisk stood up straighter, "I challenge you to a puzzle duel. If you can come up with a puzzle that I can't beat, you get my soul, but if I beat all of your puzzles by the time we reach the next town, then I get to leave."

The skeleton thought for a moment, mumbling to himself. Sans watched him desperately, the sweat beads beginning to drip down his face. After a few moments, Papyrus cried, "Alright, human. I accept your challenge. I hope you are prepared to lose, for I, The Great and Terrible Papyrus, lose to no one! Nyeh heh heh!" He laughed and quickly walked away, leaving the human and his brother alone.

As soon as he was gone, Sans snarled, "What did I tell you, brat?" He grabbed Frisk's arm and twisted it, his sharp fingers digging into her arm, small rivulets of blood beginning to drip down the limb, "I told you to do everything I said. And you go and do that? Are you asking me to kill you?"

The girl hissed in pain, "You never said I couldn't bargain for my life. All you told me to do was walk."

The skeleton growled and brought his other hand up, gripping her neck tightly, squeezing slowly and chuckling when she started to struggle, "It was suggested."

"Sans!" Papyrus yelled, walking back into view.

The short skeleton immediately dropped the girl, adjusting his black jacket to hide the red on his fingertips, fiddling with the jacket’s gold zipper nervously with his other hand, "Yeah, boss?"

Papyrus rolled his eyes, "Don't 'yeah, boss,' me. Why are not following me? We have a lot of puzzles to make. Now get moving."

Sans' face fell, "But I thought I had the day off."

"Things change, Sans. Now, get moving!"

The short skeleton shot Frisk a glare and tromped over to stand by the taller skeleton. Frisk looked at them curiously as she stood, watching them walk away. They were complete opposites, Sans in his big, fluffy jacket, black and yellow shorts and black and gold tennis shoes and Papyrus in his armor. It was hard to believe they were brothers.

They turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Flowey peeked out from his hiding place in Frisk's hair, looking around nervously, "I suggest we go back to Toriel," he said quietly.

Frisk coughed and rubbed her throat, "She's probably already destroyed the exit. And besides, we're changing this place, remember? Those two look like as good a place to start as any."

Flowey shook his head and mumbled, "You're insane."

"Thank you. I appreciate you noticing."

They walked for a few minutes, not seeing any monsters along the way. They came to another sentry station, this one surrounded by smoking dog treats. A sign by the station read, in all capital letters:

DON'T MOVE

She looked curious, but kept walking, stopping when she heard a noise coming from the station. She turned to look at it and froze when a suspicious looking dog appeared in the window, his eyes moving from side to side slowly, "Who's there?" He called, "I heard you! Just move so I can see you!" Frisk stayed perfectly still, watching the dog carefully.

They stayed like that for several minutes and Frisk's leg started to cramp, her muscles shaking slightly. The dog raised a dog treat to his mouth and lit the end, slowly lowering back into the station, "It's okay, Doggo," he whispered to himself, "It's perfectly normal to hear things. You're not going insane."

As soon as the dog's head had disappeared, Frisk moved, running a ways away from the station before slowing back down to a walk, tossing a monster candy into her mouth and sighing as her wounds from the past couple of battles disappeared. She turned to Flowey and asked, "What did you think of Sans?"

The flower shrugged, "He was a jerk. From the way he was acting, I'd say he's pretending to act tough. Why, I couldn't possibly guess."

"It's because of his brother." Frisk explained, "Did you notice his voice start shaking as soon as Papyrus showed up? He's terrified of him. I think he acts so tough because he wants toimpress his brother."

"Okay..." Flowey looked confused, "Why are you bringing this up?"

"Because we're going to help them. We're going to fix their relationship so they're not afraid of each other anymore. At least, we're going to fix it so that Sans isn't scared anymore. Constant terror is a horrible way to live."

"Ah, human!" Papyrus' shrill voice interrupted them, "I was beginning to worry you had backed out on our challenge. Are you still feeling up to our puzzle duel?"

Frisk nodded, "Give me whatever you've got."

The skeleton smirked and gestured to a large square that had been cleared of snow, "I present to you the Invisible Electricity Maze! You must find your way through this maze without touching any of the walls. If you even brush against a single wall," he procured a stick and poked into the square, letting go when it burst into flame, electricity sparking around it.

He cackled over the burning stick, Sans chuckling beside him, "Yeah, it's a real shocker."

Immediately, Papyrus stopped laughing and inhaled sharply, "Sans," he said dangerously, "Was that a pun?"  
Sans looked at him cheekily, "Nah, Pap, it was just an a-maze-ing joke."

Papyrus turned red and Frisk swore she saw steam coming out of the skeleton's ear holes, "Sans, if I hear one more pun, I will end you."

The smaller skeleton shrugged, "What? I'm a punny guy."

Papyrus shouted something profane and Frisk laughed, looking around at the invisible puzzle as the two fought. She noticed something on the ground and bent over to get a closer look, smiling when she saw that it was the slight indentation of footprints. She turned to Flowey, "And you were worried," she carefully followed the footprints, her arms sticking up on end as she passed the electric walls. When she reached the other end of the maze, she let out a long sigh of relief, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with shaking fingers.

Neither Papyrus or Sans seemed to notice her standing in front them, still fighting like children. Frisk coughed quietly, getting a little annoyed when they ignored her. She coughed louder and they turned to her, looking surprised, "Human," Papyrus shouted, "You solved it!" His eyes narrowed and he glared at her, "Perhaps you solved it a little too easily. The next puzzle will not be so easy! And it will be fully cheat proof."

He flipped around and walked away, his scarf billowing behind him epically. Sans stayed where he was, glaring at the girl, "You're a crafty one, you know that?" He growled, "But I'm onto you. Once my brother's done with you, I'm going to make you wish you had never been born." He turned and followed Papyrus, his shoulders stiff and his hands deep in his pockets.

Flowey watched him leave and murmured, "You still think you can help these two? They seem quite happy as they are."

Frisk shivered, wrapping her arms around herself, her slightly damp sweater not helping keep out the cold, "Yes. Sans is an edgy little butt, but he's not happy. We'll save them, don't worry."

They continued on their way after the skeletons, Frisk's teeth beginning to chatter as the snow continued to fall, "Frisk," Flowey murmured, looking at her worriedly, "Are you okay?"

The girl nodded, "I'm fine," she shivered again, "I'm just a little cold is all. Nothing to worry about."

Not long after, the skeletons came into view, once again standing next to a large square that had been cleared of snow, "Greetings, human," Papyrus cried, "For this puzzle, I bent the rules slightly. Instead of coming up with the puzzle myself, I allowed my brother to do it," his voice took on more of a mocking tone, "I am sure this will be one of the hardest puzzles you have ever solved."

"Ya' know, if I didn't know better, I would say that was sarcasm. But you're far above such humor, aren't you?" Sans snarked.

Papyrus rolled his eyes, "Just explain the puzzle, Sans."

"Okay, boss, but I think it's pretty self-explanatory. But who knows, the human might get so engrossed that she just falls into it." he pointed at a single piece of paper lying on the cold ground, "There it is. Go ahead and solve it, sweetheart."

Frisk hesitantly walked up to the paper, yelping when the ground came out from underneath her. She grabbed onto the edge of the hidden pit, grunting as her fingers strained for any kind of purchase. She dug them into the ground, hissing as her fingernails broke. She peeked at the bottom of the pit and whimpered, looking away from the rows of spikes that awaited her fall. The skeleton brothers appeared above her, Sans looking pleased and Papyrus looking not so pleased.

"Honestly, brother. I didn't expect you to try very hard, but I at least expected you to try. This isn't a puzzle, Sans. I very specifically told you to make a puzzle."

Sans gestured at the paper, "It's part of the puzzle, Pap. There's another pit, somewhere around here, so they had to navigate their way around the pit falls and then solve the puzzle. It's all one big thing."

Frisk gritted her teeth as her fingers began to slide, glaring up at the two monsters, willing them to just leave already. Flowey slithered down to her waist and wrapped around her, digging his roots into the side of the pit, grimacing as she continued to slip.

Papyrus harrumphed and turned around, stomping away from the puzzle, "Keep working, Sans. Your puzzles need more backbone!"

Sans glowered down at the girl and hissed, "If you know what's good for you, you'll fall. Those spikes will be a lot kinder than me or my bro," he stepped on one of her hands, smirking sadistically when she yelped and lost her grip on the edge, her other hand slowly beginning to slide. Flowey hissed as he tried to hold onto her, but his roots slowly started to tear from the ground. The skeleton laughed, "Sweet dreams, doll face."

He turned and left and Frisk growled, "He does not get to call me doll face." She swung her arm back up and clung to the dirt, growling as she slowly dragged herself back out of the pit. She rolled onto her back and gasped for air, her chest heaving. Flowey flopped onto her stomach and griped, "Really? That's what gives you motivation?"

Frisk glared at him, "Nobody calls me doll face."

They walked through the cold for a few minutes, Frisk's shivering getting worse. When they came to a plate of spaghetti carefully placed on a table, the girl's stomach growled and her mouth watered. She wandered up to the plate, looking at it hungrily. She looked around it carefully, checking for any traps. When she didn't see any, she reached for the fork excitedly, already tasting the delicious meal. But before she could touch anything, Flowey slapped her hand away and pointed at a torn piece of paper she had missed.

She reluctantly read the paper, her hopes plummeting, "Dear, human. Enjoy this spaghetti. It will be the last good thing you taste!! Nyeh heh heh! ~Papyrus."

Flowey looked at her sadly, "You still have the donut and pie if you're that hungry."

Frisk's face scrunched in disgust, "Those are only for emergencies."

They continued on their way, leaving the spaghetti where it sat.

"Hey, Frisk," Flowey asked hesitantly, "While we're just walking, I was curious. Why did you want to kill yourself?"

The girl sent him a cold look, "Is that any of your business?"

The flower didn't respond, just looked down quietly.

Frisk sighed, "I was an accident. Despite all of my parent’s precautions, I was conceived. They never wanted a child or anything they actually had to take care of, so I was just a plague on their lives. I think the best way to put it is that they despised me. Every day, ever since I was little, they would find new ways to torture me. They locked me in kitchen cabinets for days, threw me outside with the muggers and petty scum of the streets at night, beat me to an inch of my life," she rolled one of her sleeves up past the elbow, showing Flowey the patch of skin between her forearm and her bicep, "My mom loved to take this long pin she had found somewhere and stick it right here. It wasn't big enough to leave any serious damage, but she knew how to make it hurt. She discovered this technique where she would stick it in and then drag it through my skin. If you look really close, you can see the scars, but like I said, she was careful to not do any serious damage. My dad never really touched me. He would hit me every now and then, broke my jaw once, but he preferred the verbal way of things. And he was very creative when it came to words."

Flowey looked confused, "If they hated you so much, why didn't they just throw you out?"

Frisk smiled disdainfully, "Because it was fun for them. I was a way to get their anger out. Plus, they lived in an area where adoption was looked down upon. If they got rid of me, they would become the outcasts of the town. I don't really blame them for any of it. They may have been horrible people, but they were just doing what they thought was best, even if their way of thinking was screwed up."

"May have been? Did they change?"

A haunted look entered Frisk's eyes, "No. They died."

Flowey dropped the subject.

Soon after, they bumped into Papyrus once again, his face contorted into a look of deep displeasure as he stared at a pile of rocks that had a bunch of red X's between them, "Human, while I was waiting for you to arrive, I adjusted the puzzle slightly, to make it look more like my face, but in the process, I have changed the solution," an excited glint suddenly appeared in his eye and he whirled around, pointing at Frisk determinedly, "This will add a flare to our challenge! If you do not solve this new puzzle before I do, our earlier agreement becomes moot and I get your soul now! If you beat me, then we will continue as we have been! Deal?"

Frisk sighed, "Do I have a choice?"

The skeleton laughed, "No, you don't! Let the puzzle solving begin! You must turn every X into an O!"

Frisk rolled her eyes as the dramatic monster and walked over to the pile of rocks, looking at each X carefully, going over different paths in her brain. After a few minutes, she saw the solution and quickly walked over each X, watching in astonishment as they turned into a large green O as soon as she touched them. When the rocks were full of O's, she walked back over to Papyrus and looked at him smugly. He glared at her, "You get to keep your soul, for now. But soon, it will be mine!"

He ran away, his boots leaving large indents in the snow. Frisk watched him leave, "I never thought someone so scary could be such a drama queen."

She followed after the skeleton, turning to Flowey curiously, "Hey, Flowey, how do you think the brothers are getting everywhere so much faster than us? I'm leaving basically as soon as they do."

The flower shrugged, "It probably has something to do with their magic. Each monster type has their own type of magic. Like Toriel, for example. That goat kid we saw in the picture probably has some form of fire magic, because he's the same type of monster as Toriel. The skeletons are going to have the same type of magic too. Exactly how they're getting everywhere so quickly I have no idea."

"It's called teleportation, honey," Sans said lazily, suddenly appearing in front of them.

Frisk jumped and a small squeak escaped her, her eyes widened in shock.

The small skeleton laughed, "It's going to be a shame when you die, sweetheart. You're real fun to mess with."

Frisk glared at him, "Maybe I won't die then. You said yourself that if I made you laugh, you'd help me out. Well, where's the help, Sans? I haven't seen it!"

Sans glared at her, "I've been helping you this entire time. Why do you think Papyrus hasn't just killed you yet! Do you really think he's so in love with puzzles that he would give up his chance to be the head of the royal guard just to mess around with some human!? I'm the only reason you're still alive, so I suggest you start showing some respect."

"I'll show you respect when you show yourself some," Frisk snarled.

Sans gritted his teeth, the single golden incisor glinting dangerously, "Don't you dare try to bargain with me, brat. If you do it again, I will kill you, Pap or no Pap."

He stomped away, following his brother's footsteps. Frisk watched him go, anger still gnawing at her belly, "You know, maybe we should just leave them be. I think they would be much happier to just rot in Hell."

Flowey patted her shoulder calmly, "Calm down, Frisk. Remember what you said. No one deserves to live like this. So let's just keep moving and we'll figure something out, okay?"

The girl grunted and stalked in the direction the skeletons had gone, her breathing still angry. Barely five minutes later, she walked into a darkened room, the floor barely visible. She looked past the gray tile floor and saw Sans and Papyrus looking back at her, a large box covered in several buttons and switches sitting next to them.

"Human, I strongly debated putting this puzzle in. It is not technically made by me, so perhaps it is breaking the rules of our agreement, but then I realized that it doesn't matter. You're going to die anyway, so may as well, right? You see, this color tile puzzle was made by the amazing Doctor Alphys. When I hit this switch, this floor will turn into a rainbow of death. Each tile will randomly turn a different color. Each color has a different level of pain. Red tiles are covered in poisonous spikes and are thus impassible. Yellow tiles will electrocute you. Green tiles will summon a monster you'll have to fight. Orange tiles are covered in corrosive, orange scented gel that will slowly burn your skin off. Blue tiles are water tiles. They are full of orange loving, hungry piranhas. And, if a blue tile is next to a yellow tile, the water will electrocute you. Purple tiles are slippery and will make you slide onto the next tile. They also smell like lemons, which piranhas hate. And finally, pink tiles do absolutely nothing. Got it? Good."

Frisk looked dazed, her mind trying to wrap her mind around the sheer amount of rules. Papyrus flicked the switch, watching in pure glee as the death tiles began to change color, lighting up the darkened room with their foreboding rainbow. Frisk watched them nervously, sweat beading on her forehead. Suddenly, they stopped and the four stared at the floor in amazement. All of the tiles had turned red, except for a couple of rows down the middle, which had turned a bright, almost offensive pink. Papyrus' mouth gaped open and Frisk was sure he was about to cry. He slowly turned around and quietly walked out of the room, looking absolutely devastated.

Sans watched him go, a look of glee on his face. He turned to Frisk as she walked across the tiles, "It really is to bad you're going to die. I've never seen the boss look so defeated and I've got to say, I am loving it."

Frisk watched him walk out after his brother, a spring in his step. She turned to Flowey sadly, "Is it really that easy to hate someone so much that you enjoy seeing them in pain?"

Flowey shook his head, "Frisk, you have to understand. People down here are screwed up. Asgore has never been a good king, but when he started the war with the humans, he gave us hope that we could win, that we could stop being suppressed. But then we lost, and all that hope was stripped away. We have nothing but hatred now. So yes, it really is possible to hate someone that much. In fact, when you have nothing left, it becomes easy."

Frisk shivered and wiped her red nose on her sleeve, coughing into it softly, "That's sad, Flowey. That makes me really sad."

They traveled through the rest of the forest silently, Frisk's cough getting worse, her teeth chattering louder than ever.

Just outside of the tree line sat a long bridge that covered a huge crevice, the bottom invisible to the naked eye. Papyrus and Sans were standing at one end, waiting patiently for the human to arrive. She stepped onto the bridge and stumbled as she realized that it was actually just a large rock formation painted to look like a bridge. About three quarters of the way across, she stopped and watched them carefully, her nerves tingling as she sensed something was going to happen.

"Human," Papyrus cried solemnly, "You have been a fine opponent, truly worthy of my puzzles, but I am afraid this is your final puzzle. Many have attempted to pass this challenge, but none have succeeded. I present to you the Gauntlet of Deadly Terror!" Several objects appeared around the bridge, some hanging from the cavern ceiling and others somehow floating up from the bottom of the giant gap, "If you somehow pass this final test, than you will face me and we will fight for your soul, mano a skeleton. Are you ready?"

Before Frisk could respond, Papyrus yelled something unintelligible and the objects began to swing violently up and down. Axes slammed into the bridge, sending rock bits everywhere. Cannons fired sporadically and spears flew in every direction. Frisk dodged everything, her eyes focused on the bridge so she wouldn't fall off the edge. Suddenly, a small white dog fell from the ceiling and ran at her, its tiny teeth bared, its floofy tail bushed out into a small fluff ball. She couldn't help but stop and stare at it, its little face adorable even when it looked like it wanted to eat her. A spear slamming into the rock next to her reminded her where she was and she quickly started moving again, easily jumping over the dog as she raced for the end of the bridge, only a few more steps away from it when something sharp and heavy slammed into her side. She gasped and blood gushed from her mouth, her eyes widening as the giant mace tore into her side and slammed her to the ground, the white snow quickly becoming red as she bled out.

Flowey screeched into her ear, his leaves frantically patting her cheeks, his small face inches from hers as he desperately tried to keep her awake. Her half lidded eyes traveled to Sans and Papyrus, who were walking up to her, Papyrus searching for something that he apparently couldnt' find.

He turned to Sans and hissed, "Sans, did you grab the jar?"

The short skeleton shook his head, "I thought you had it."

Papyrus looked at the dying human and cursed, bending down and roughly snatching the flower from her, tossing it to the side carelessly, "We can't let it die, then. If its soul leaves its soul space, who knows what it will do. Give me one of those hot dogs you cherish so dearly."

Sans raised an eyebrow, "Pap, there's no way that's going to heal her. Those things are completely useless for health, you know that."

Papyrus growled, "Yes, Sans, I am fully aware, but it is the only thing we have. Now give one to me. If we can keep it alive long enough to get it home, than everything will be fine."

Frisk's eyes closed as the two continued to talk. She felt her body slowly becoming numb, her fingers and legs growing cold. She was aware of something being shoved into her mouth, but she paid no mind to it. Nothing mattered anymore. There was only darkness and the soft mumble of the skeletons' voices. She let out a soft breath and smiled. This was exactly what she had been looking for, wasn't it? This complete nothingness? Something grabbed her roughly and she was suddenly pressed against something hard. It wasn't very comfortable, but it was warm. She curled into it and sighed, letting the darkness take her.

A sharp pain in her side jolted her awake and she moaned, rolling away from the cause of the pain. A familiar shrill voice chided her and a bony hand grabbed her shoulder roughly, rolling her back over, the pain continuing. She opened her eyes blearily and looked around, whimpering as the movement made her head throb. The pain in her side came again and she looked at it, her brow scrunching in confusion as she saw a bony hand strapped in a fingerless glove dabbing at a hole in her side with a blood soaked cloth. She followed the arm that was attached to the hand and her eyes widened as she remembered what had happened.

Papyrus was leaning over her, a grimace on his face as he cleaned the wound in her side. He looked over at her as she moved to sit up and growled, "Don't move. I just got the stupid thing to stop bleeding. If you open it again, I might just let you die, soul or no soul."

Frisk stopped, looking around at the large living room they were in, her hands lightly clutching the fabric of the green couchshe was sat on, "Where's Flowey?" She asked, quietly, voice hoarse.

The skeleton grumbled, "The flower? I don't know. He was in the way, so we tossed him aside. He's probably dead in a ditch somewhere."

Frisk inhaled sharply, "Oh." She watched as Papyrus continued to clean her wound, her sweater rolled up to her chest to give him easy access, "Why am I still alive?"

The skeleton inhaled slowly and closed his eyes, "Because we have nothing to put your soul in. We used to have a jar, but apparently, someone used it for their stockpile of mustard. So, until we can get you to Asgore, you are safe from death."

Frisk tilted her head, "Why would you need to put my soul in something? Couldn't you just carry it to Asgore?"

The tall skeleton leaned back, looking amused, "You know nothing of souls, do you?"

Frisk shook her head.

"Well, I might as well tell you, I suppose," Papyrus sighed, standing up and looking at Frisk expectantly. She quickly sat up and moved her feet so he could sit, leaning her back against the armrest, "who knows how long my useless brother is going to take at the shop." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, holding it for a moment before releasing it, an upside down, cracked blue heart appearing in his cupped hand, "This is my soul. It is the culmination of my being. It is what gives me my magic and the source of my existence. If this shatters, I turn into dust. Do you understand?"

Frisk nodded, looking at the small heart in amazement, "Why is it cracked?"

Papyrus sighed, "When you are injured, the soul is damaged, but it can be healed with a little bit of food. However, when you kill someone, your soul breaks permanently. How much your soul breaks depends on how much pain you caused."

Frisk paled, "So, you've killed people?"

The skeleton smirked, "I have killed many people. However, I am not one for needless torture, so most of my kills are quick and painless. However, I am not against torture if the need arises."

The skeleton balled his hand into a loose fist and the soul disappeared. Focusing his gaze on Frisk, he raised a hand and concentrated on a spot just below her collarbone, a small red heart appearing in front of her chest after a moment. The girl gasped and brought her hands up to the look at it, her face paling even more when she saw it. Starting from the center of the glowing object was a large crack that zigzagged to the bottom, small lines spider webbing their way around the rest of the heart.

Papyrus raised an eyebrow in surprise, "It looks like you've killed someone too. That's quite a bit of cracking, human. Especially for someone who refuses to fight."

Frisk clutched the heart to her chest, tears welling up in her eyes. Papyrus continued talking, a terrible gleam in his eye, "I wonder what type of torture you had to put your victim through to obtain that much of an impact on your soul. Did they beg you to stop? Or did you gag them before you started?"

Tears dripped down the human's face and she pressed her soul back into her chest, covering her face with her hands and sobbing into them. Papyrus reeled back at the emotion. He looked around desperately, not sure what to do, a soft orange spreading across his cheeks. Frisk continued to cry, the pain in her side just making her cry harder. The flustered skeleton eventually just stood up and quickly left the room, taking the blood soaked cloth he had used on the girl's wound with him.

Eventually, Frisk stopped crying. She wiped her face, removing the remaining tears and snot, sniffing pathetically as she sat, curled up on the sofa, her body aching. Carefully, she took out her last monster candy and ate it, grumbling when it didn't do much.

A few minutes after she stopped crying, Papyrus popped out of his room, coming down the stairs and once again sitting on the couch next to her, a roll of bandages in his hand, "We need to cover your wound so it doesn't get infected," he said gruffly.

Frisk laughed and pulled up her shirt up so he could wrap the wound unhindered, "It's okay to say you're uncomfortable. You don't have to pretend like you didn't just run from the room at the first sign of tears."

Papyrus glared at her, "I would be careful, human. You are under my roof and I will not be disrespected," he tightened the bandages painfully and secured them, jabbing a pointy finger into her wound as his hands left her waist, "I'm going to be in the kitchen. Sans should be home in a few minutes, so don't do anything that will piss him off. He's already annoying as is. I don't need him to be moody."

He disappeared into another room and Frisk dropped her shirt, the bandages feeling restrictive against her rib cage. She inspected the room she was in further, taking in the blue and purple striped carpet and the measly amount of furniture. She sighed and relaxed into the arm rest, closing her eyes and trying to return to the absolute darkness she had been in when she had been hit.

The door slamming open and banging into the wall made her jump, her face scrunching in pain as her side throbbed, "Next time," Sans hollered, stomping into the room with several bags of food in his arms, "YOU can go to the shop and deal with the all the idiots! I am done with these morons! I ask for a dozen eggs, so they give me five! Five, Papyrus!"

Papyrus' head popped around the corner and he glared at the skeleton, "Did you get the other seven?"

"Of course I did! I'm not a moron," the short skeleton dumped the bags in the kitchen door and stomped back over to the couch, glaring at Frisk, "Why is the human in here? I thought you were going to take her out to the shed."

"I was, but I decided to start dinner first. I'm trying out a new recipe and the noodles need to cook for longer than usual. Go ahead and take it out. You can just chain it to the wall."

Sans smiled, "With pleasure," he growled, grabbing Frisk's arm roughly and dragging her out the door, tossing her into a small shed that sat by their house, stepping inside with her and slamming the door behind him. He grabbed her hair and dragged her into a cell that took up half the building, wrapping a collar around her neck and attaching a chain that was nailed to the floor to it, stepping back once he was done, "Enjoy your new home, sweetheart.”

He laughed and walked out, slamming the door shut behind him, the entire shed shaking from the force. Frisk tugged at the collar angrily, the course leather rubbing against her skin uncomfortably. She looked around for anything sharp, but the floor was barren, nothing but an old, ragged blanket and a couple of dog bowls, one full of dog chow, the other half filled with water. She crawled over to the old blanket and wrapped it around herself, curling up in a corner and falling into a restless sleep, violent shivers running up and down her body.

When she woke up, she noticed a plateful of spaghetti was lying in front of her, it's warm, enticing smell making her stomach rumble. She sat up and snatched up the fork sitting next to it and started scooping it into her mouth, spaghetti sauce flying all over her face. She licked the plate clean and wiped her chin, looking up at a low chuckle that came from the other side of the room.

Papyrus was standing in the doorway, a pleased smirk on his face, his breastplate missing, replaced by a baggy t-shirt that hung from his shoulders, “I see you like my cooking. Or you just really like spaghetti. I can respect either.”

Frisk looked at him, surprised, “You can cook?”

“Of course I can! I, unlike my brother, have respect for my body. I do actually try to take care of it when I am here.”

A silence fell between the two and Frisk set the plate aside awkwardly, “Um, is there a reason you’re here?”

Papyrus raised an eyebrow, “This is my shed. I think I am allowed in here whenever I please,” he sneered at her, “However, there is a more specific reason. Since you are my prisoner, it is my job to keep an eye on you. So, when Sans is at work, I will be watching you,” he walked over to the wall and sat down, his legs crossed. He pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and started jotting down something, a thoughtful look crossing his face.

Frisk watched him curiously, crawling over to sit by the bars closest to him, peeking over his shoulder to watch him scribble on the paper. He glanced at her, but didn’t say anything. She watched him draw a maze, the lines crossing over each other in a complicated mess. He paused after a few minutes, analyzing the puzzle carefully, a frustrated look entering his eyes. Frisk inspected the maze as well, her eyes roaming over the messy lines. She noticed something in the middle and looked at Papyrus nervously, reaching out and pointing at it, “If you move this over here, you could put the exit here. It would be confusing and most people wouldn’t think of turning here.”

The skeleton looked at where she pointed, an eyebrow rising as he realized that she was right. He quickly made the change and turned to her, “You have a good eye for puzzles, human.”

Frisk blushed and sat back, “Thanks.”

The monster turned back to the paper and placed a checkmark in the corner, flipping the notebook closed and putting it back in his pocket. He turned to Frisk once again, “You are taking this whole thing very calmly. The last human we locked in here cried until we killed it. So, why are you so confident?”

The girl shrugged, “I don’t fear death.”

The skeleton hummed and stood, “Well, Sans should be home soon. I’m going to go and start dinner.”

He left and Frisk slouched against the wall. Papyrus really wasn’t that bad. He looked intimidating, and she was sure if she managed to piss him off, he wouldn’t have a problem hurting her, but at the same time, he was almost nice. An hour passed and she dozed off, her head falling onto her chest. A small noise from the other side of the room woke her and she turned her head, looking at the source blearily.

Sans was leaning against the wall, watching her with an amused look on his face, "You move fast, don't ya'. Haven't even been here twenty four hours and you've already made yourself comfortable. Got a nice blanket, plenty of water, some dry food. You're all set. In fact, I'd say you're quite comfortable." His eyes went dark and he snarled, "Well, we can't have that, can we?After all, why should a piece of trash be allowed a paradise like this?" His left eye suddenly lit up, a red flame engulfing the socket, small wisps of magic trailing from it and disappearing into the air. Frisk felt her body becoming lighter and gasped as she floated into the air, a red aura surrounding her. Sans slammed his arm to the side and Frisk followed it, her body smashing into the wall with a loud smack. The skeleton's arm went the other way and Frisk flew into the other wall, her nose beginning to bleed. The skeleton smiled and started to move faster, ramming Frisk into any flat surface available, her body cracking with each impact. Blood was pouring down her face from a gash in her forehead and her arm was flapping around uselessly from a dislocated shoulder. She yelped at every impact, but had yet to scream, which seemed to upset Sans more and the impacts became harder, until finally, he slammed her into the floor and her leg snapped, the knee bending backwards and the limb twisting unnaturally beneath her. She sat in shock for a moment before she screamed, a blood curdling sound that had Sans grinning like a fool.

When the sound stopped and Frisk was merely sobbing, her hands clutching her thigh desperately, the skeleton spoke, "So you are capable of screaming. Good to know. Papyrus has never been a fan of torture. He thinks it's pointless, but see, I love it. The exhilaration of seeing someone bow to your will. It's incredible. And then there are the sounds. All the screams and the groans. They're positively beautiful." He grinned at Frisk and tossed something between the bars, "Eat that. It will heal you right up so you can be ready for tomorrow," he looked at her twisted leg dubiously, "It might not heal the leg though, but that's alright. This way, there's no chance of you escaping."

He laughed and walked out, locking the door behind him. Frisk sat in the middle of her cell, rocking back and forth, clutching her leg with a death grip, blood dripping down her face. She looked up at what Sans had thrown her and picked it up, inspecting it carefully. It looked like a bunny shaped cinnamon roll. She sniffed and took a large bite out of it, her headache disappearing and her nose quenching its blood flow. She quickly finished it off and shrieked in pain as her leg slowly straightened itself, the bone still clearly broken, but the limb no longer twisted awkwardly. She sobbed and slowly dragged herself to her corner, huddling up in it and wrapping her blanket around herself, being careful not to touch her leg. She buried her face in the blanket and cried herself to sleep, her body violently shivering all the while.

The next day, Papyrus woke her again, his gaze displeased as he looked at her broken leg. He shook his head and sat by the wall again, a little closer to the bars than before. He once againpulled out his notebook and started scribbling away. Frisk just watched him, not daring to move, her leg throbbing at the thought.

Several minutes passed in silence, Papyrus pausing every now and then to erase something before adding more lines to his newest puzzle. Eventually, he seemed satisfied with his creation and put the little booklet away, looking at Frisk curiously, “You are a very strange human,” he commented, “Sans told me about your session last night. It is truly impressive that you did not scream until the leg broke. You are unnaturally strong for one your size. It makes me wonder what your history is.”

Frisk looked away from him, “My history is boring and you wouldn’t be interested.”

The skeleton chuckled, “Going by your soul, I would disagree. I am very interested to know what caused that much damage.”

“Tell me more about magic,” Frisk blurted.

Papyrus blinked, and leaned farther against the wall, “I tell you about magic, you tell me about your past.”

Frisk froze, a haunted shadow covering her face, then she nodded.

“Magic is the thing that holds us monsters together. It is what makes up our souls and without it, we literally turn to dust. Every monster has their own unique type of magic, but the same species of monster, like me and Sans, will share similarities. Like for example,” he raised his hand and his right eye flared orange, a similar aura surrounding Frisk as she slowly rose into the air, “We both control gravity. No other monster can move objects like this and no other monsters can summon bones as weapons. Those attacks are strictly for us skeletons.”

He placed the girl back on the ground and she winced as her leg straightened, “But if you both have that type of magic, it doesn’t make it unique.”

Papyrus nodded, “There are small things that differ our magic. Sans has always been better at controlling gravity. For him, lifting you and tossing you around is no problem. For me, however, I would have to truly want to harm you for it to be worth the effort. And perhaps it is because of his skill with gravity, but Sans has created a new skill. He has taught himself to bend space, so he can teleport. I have no idea how he does this and even though I have tried, I cannot do it.

“However, I have always had more stamina than Sans and I can create bigger and stronger bones than him. His attacks have always been weak, which is why he depends so strongly on his surroundings. But if just one of my attacks hit you, it would lower your health considerably.”

Frisk nodded, “Okay, that all makes sense. Do humans have magic?”

Papyrus snorted, “The simple fact that you are asking me that should answer the question for you,” he stood and opened the door, turning back to Frisk before leaving, “I will see you tomorrow, human.”

The next few days went much the same way. Papyrus would come in the morning with some form of spaghetti, sit and work on puzzle while Frisk ate and then he would answer any questions Frisk had. The girl didn’t say it out loud, but it almost seemed like the monster enjoyed teaching her things, no matter how trivial they were. When Papyrus left, she would sleep for short amount of time, and then Sans would come in and he would beat her. His tactics changed day to day, and she realized it just depended on how angry he was that day.

One day, after Sans had really beaten the crap out of her, she jolted awake, her arms coming up to cover her head, a squeal escaping her as she cowered from an invisible blow. Her leg throbbed and her side ached, the pain slowly bringing her back to reality. She looked around, her eyes still wide with panic from her nightmare, a cold sweat covering her entire body. She curled up into a tighter ball, every shadow turning into something horrific and dangerous. Eventually, she squeezed her eyes shut, her heartbeat going far too fast, the sound reverberating in her head, drowning out any other noises. Tears leaked from her eyes and her breathing stopped, her lungs screaming for air, but no matter how hard she sucked in, she could never get enough. The blackness behind her eyelids was spinning and her entire body felt squished.

A door banging against a wall was faintly heard, but she took no mind, her body still gasping for air, everything around her a swirling mess of black. Angry voices filtered into the noise in her head and she blinked her eyes open, looking around in confusion, her panic attack slowly coming to an end.

Papyrus was knelt in front of her, his head turned so he could yell at Sans, who was standing in the door of her cell, his eye sockets empty and a panicked look on his face, “What did you do to the human, Sans?!"

The short skeleton shook his head, “I- I just beat her up a little, that’s all. I gave her a cinnamon bun afterward, so she should have been fine. The only injury she should have had left was her broken leg. I was careful, Pap, I promise.”

The taller skeleton shook his head, disgusted, “Obviously not careful enough.” He noticed Frisk open her eyes and turned back to her, “Human, what happened? You were having some kind of episode on the floor. Are you dying?”

Frisk shook her head and sat up straighter, wincing as she jostled her leg, “Don’t worry about it. It was just a panic attack. They happen sometimes. They’re just a… mental thing, so they don’t cause any physical harm, most of the time.”

Papyrus snorted and stood up, dusting off his knees grumpily, “Be more careful, next time, Sans. Honestly. Don’t let this happen again. I don’t want to be bothered by this thing until it is ready to go to Asgore.”

Frisk flinched at every pronoun, the dehumanization almost hurting.

“Sorry, boss. I just thought…”

“You thought it had fallen down, I know. You should know the symptoms of a monster that has fallen down by now, Sans. And besides, I don’t even think humans can fall. They don’t turn to dust, remember? Seriously. How did I get stuck with such a moronic lazybones?”

The tall skeleton left, pushing past Sans roughly on his way out. The smaller monster stood by the door for a moment, his smile barely present as he looked at where his brother had been standing. After a moment, his smile grew and he stepped into the cell, light red tears building up in his eye sockets, a dark red bone appearing behind him, the end razor sharp “I hope you’re ready for today, sweetheart. Mine hasn’t had a great start, so let’s see if yours goes any better.”

By the time Sans left, Frisk was a bloody mess, the red liquid dripping from her hair and staining her clothes, some even dripping down the wall. She made to stand, but a bone slammed into the front of her sweater, pinning her to the ground. She hissed and looked up at Sans, who was standing in the doorway, his back turned to her. He said something to quiet for Frisk to hear, a long, awkward silence following.

“What?” Frisk asked, shakily.

Sans turned and stared at her, his expression almost tired, “Why didn’t you blame me for your episode? It would have been so much easier. Papyrus would have been pissed and you would have gotten out of this for a few days.” He gestured at the blood pooling below her.

Frisk thought about his question for a moment and then stated matter-of-factly, “That’s not how I work. I would rather lie for someone than get them hurt. Papyrus already beats you enough verbally, if not physically. I figured you could take a small break from his abuse.”

The skeleton stared at her in shock, before he chuckled, “You are a weird one.” He tossed another cinnamon bun through the bars and then left.

Frisk munched on the cinnamon bun while she thought about Sans’ question. Did it mean he was changing? It had been about a week since she had been captured. Maybe her constant refusals to fight or blame him had finally started to hit home. She suddenly felt a little woozy and she leaned back against the wall, the pain in her side almost completely gone, as well as the pain in her leg. She finished off the sweet roll and yawned, sprawling on the floor with her hands on her stomach. Before she fell asleep, she found herself once again thinking about her missing friend. All she could do for him was hope that he was alive and that he wasn’t suffering.

The next day, Frisk slept through Papyrus’ visit. She wasn’t even aware he was there until he was leaving, the squeaking of the hinges waking her. Her head throbbed and she groaned, turning away from the light and squeezing her eyes shut. Everything hurt and she just wanted to go back to sleep.

When Sans came in, Frisk, despite her piercing headache and unfocused vision, could tell that something was off. His eyes were already dark and his fists were clenched, his teeth gritted in an ugly scowl. He didn’t bother saying anything to her, just picked her up with his magic and began the daily routine, slamming her into walls until she was barely conscious and then tossing deadly projectiles at her until she was a cut up heap of flesh. This time though, he didn’t stop when her eyes started to go out of focus. He seemed to just ram her harder into the wall, her head bouncing off of the hard surface painfully. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head for a moment and she squawked, a sound that seemed to have gotten Sans’ attention. He dropped her immediately and she landed on her hands and knees, blood dripping from the side of her head and a sick feeling sitting in her stomach. She sat there for several moments, her eyes out of focus and her brain slow. Sans was looking between the bars worriedly, his gaze glancing at the door every now and then, as if Papyrus would burst through at any minute.

Suddenly, Frisk felt her stomach jolt and she slurred, “Oh, no,” before she vomited, the little she had in her stomach taking the emergency exit all at once.

Sans stared at her in horror, his sockets going dark. When her stomach stopped shoving everything out of it, the girl tipped over, her eyes cloudy and her head bleeding profusely, the ends of her air soaking in the puddle of vomit that lay next to her.

Slowly, the skeleton walked into her cell, skirting around the puke carefully and bending down to poke at her wounded skull, jolting back when she moaned, a small trickle of blood slipping out from between her lips. He stared at her in terror, sweat beading on his brow and dripping down his neck. Not being terribly gentle, he scooped the girl up and carried her into the house, the human whimpering the entire way, her head lolling in every direction.

Papyrus was sitting on the couch, customary scowl on his face, when his brother walked in and laid the human on the carpet, a look of pure fear on his face. The tall monster looked at the blood seeping from the human’s skull and snarled, “Sans, what did you do?”

Sans jumped at the tone and mumbled, “I- I didn’t realize- Iwas too rough. I’m sorry, boss.”

Papyrus stood, a dark cloud hovering over his form, the very fires of Hell burning in his glare, “You were too rough?” his voice was dangerously calm, “Sans, if you tell me that you killed the human, I will turn you into dust and ensure that you are spread across the garbage dump.”

“I didn’t kill the human!” Sans cried, flailing his hands frantically, “She’s just bleeding profusely from her head and she might have a fever. And her insides might not be inside her anymore.”

Papyrus raised a fist and smashed it into Sans’ skull, knocking the smaller skeleton to the ground and creating a large crack above his eye, “Sans, leave. Now, before I do something we will both regret.”

The smaller monster scrambled to his feet, one hand clutching his head, and he teleported, disappearing into nothing.

Papyrus scowled at the human and picked her up, grimacing at the smell of blood, sweat and vomit. He carried her into their washroom and dumped her onto the floor, turning the bathtub on cold and leaning against the sink as he waited for it to fill up, watching the girl angrily, her unfocused eyes half open and her head still lolling from side to side, a small string of bloody drool leaking from the corner of her mouth. She mumbled something quietly and the skeleton leaned forwards, trying to catch what was being said.

“You are one ugly parrot,” she murmured, “What happened to your feathers? Did you fall into a blender? And what’s with that dancing grass?”

The skeleton rolled his eyes. Just a fever dream than. Should have guessed.

The tub finally reached an acceptable fullness level and Papyrus dropped the girl into it, snickering as she jolted awake and flailed helplessly for a moment, her arms eventually finding the sides of the tub. She pulled herself halfway out of the tub, her body shaking, “What is wrong with you?”

The skeleton shrugged, “I find joy in the little things.”

The girl slowly eased her body back into the cold water and grumbled, “You at least could have taken my clothes off first.”

Papyrus raised his eyebrow, “Wouldn’t that be considered sexual assault?”

Frisk glared at him, “You’re a skeleton.”

Papyrus glared back, “Don’t make assumptions, human.”

They had a silent glare off until Papyrus rolled his eyes and dunked Frisk under the water, chuckling when she came back up, gasping for breath.

“You suck, did you know that?” she hissed, “Both you and your brother suck horribly and I am seriously debating just letting you two stay here to rot…” a sudden bout of dizziness hit her and she trailed off, her eyes rolling into the back of her head and her body going limp in the tub.

Papyrus’ eyes widened and he jumped forward, pressing his cold fingers against the girl’s pulse, sighing in relief when he felt a weak heartbeat. He quickly got to work cleaning the girl up, unwrapping her soaked bandages and cleaning the blood from her skin and hair. When he finished, he dragged her from the tub and wrapped her in a towel, rewrapping her leg, the bone still not completely healed. He checked her side and nodded in approval when he saw nothing but a nasty scar. Then, being careful of her hair, he wrapped the wound on her head. He left her on the washroom floor and quickly snuck into Sans’ room, gathering a pile of the cleanest clothes he could find and dumping them on the girl’s face, sighing in disappointment when she didn’t move. He rolled his eyes and undressed her, a small blush spreading across his cheeks. He redressed her as quickly as possible, picking her up and dumping her on the couch on his way to the kitchen. She grumbled and he grumbled back, sneering at her as he disappeared around the corner. He came back after a moment, a wet washcloth in hand. He brushed her bangs aside and set it on her forehead, letting out a sigh as he moved to sit down. He then realized his mistake. The human was sprawled across the couch, leaving no room for anyone else. He breathed deep and carefully moved her bandaged head so he could sit, dropping her skull onto his lap and sighing as she nuzzled into his bony thigh.

They stayed like that for a while, Papyrus flicking through channels, finally deciding to stop on one of the many MTT talk shows, chuckling every now and then at the antics of the robot host. Occasionally, he would reach down and press a few digits to the girl’s forehead, checking her temperature. To his quiet glee, she was beginning to cool down.

Eventually, he noticed that Sans hadn’t come back and shrugged, “Maybe I’ll be lucky and the lazybones won’t come back until morning,” he whispered to himself.

Frisk adjusted her position slightly and whispered back, “Why do you hate him so much? Isn’t he your brother?”

Papyrus jumped slightly at the sudden voice and scowled down at the girl, “I don’t hate him. Now go back to sleep. I like you better when you’re unconscious.”

“If you don’t hate him, why do you act like you do?”

Papyrus sighed long-sufferingly, “Next time I see Sans, I am purging him of mustard,” he mumbled under his breath, before turning back to Frisk, “Look, human, there are some things that you don’t get to know, so stop asking questions.”

Frisk sat up woozily, her body wobbling back and forth, and turned towards Papyrus, her face flushed and the washcloth dropping from her head into her lap, “Okay, then. What does it mean for a monster to be fallen? And why would Sans be so familiar with it?”

The skeleton stiffened, “Why are you asking?”

Frisk shrugged, wobbling dangerously toward the edge of the couch, “I heard you and Sans talking about it earlier. I don’t know what it means.”

The skeleton rolled his eyes and grabbed her shoulder, slamming her back down into his lap, looking down at her in disdain, “You’re annoying, did you know that?”

She smiled at him dreamily.

He grumped something and sent his attention back to the TV, slapping the washcloth back onto the girl’s forehead.

“I’m not going to stop asking,” she said, her eyes suddenly clear and her words quiet, “I’m just going to keep bothering you about it until you tell me what I want to know. I can be very determined when I want to be.”

Papyrus scowled, “I’ve noticed.”

There was a silence and the girl closed her eyes again, adjusting her head to be more comfortable on the skeleton’s bony thigh.

“I’ll tell you what,” he suddenly rumbled, “Because you got out of it last time, if you tell me who you killed to damage your soul that badly, I’ll tell you about Sans. Deal?”

The girl peaked one eye open, “You like making deals.”

The skeleton shrugged, “You started it.”

Frisk thought about it for a minute, obviously not entirely comfortable with the idea. But eventually she nodded, Flowey’s voice gently reminding her of her promise, “Okay. I’m sure your story is longer, so you go first.”

Papyrus leaned back into the couch and turned off the TV, letting out a quiet sigh before starting, “A fallen monster is one who is dying. Their soul has weakened to a point that it can no longer support their form. It’s not very common, but it does happen. Eventually, the monster will turn to dust, but it can take a while. It is excruciatingly painful and possibly the worst way for a monster to die.

“When Sans and I came into this life, we were born into a very unlucky situation. Our parents were already weak from the war, their souls damaged beyond belief, so having two kids took more energy than they could spare. Our father went first. His soul slowly started to fall apart, bits and pieces just disappearing into nothingness. Eventually, bits and pieces of his body began to do the same. His fingers disappeared and his arms started to fade away. We could all tell that he was in extreme pain, but there was nothing we could do. There has never been a cure for falling and I doubt there ever will be. It took him two months to disappear, and six months later, our mother fell as well. She did what she could for us, but eventually she became bed ridden. It was almost a year later when she finally disappeared. Sans was there both times the process started, so he is more than aware of what a monster looks like when they first fall. It is a truly horrendous sight that no child should have to see. I sometimes wonder if that is perhaps why he is so angry all of the time. Watching your parents suffer is not an easy thing, especially not for someone as emotionally inept as Sans is.”

Frisk looked at him sadly, her eyes beginning to cloud over again, “So you both watched your parents die. I guess that explains a lot then. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Papyrus blinked in surprise, “You have no reason to be sorry, human. You did not kill them.”

Frisk sent him a look, “But it doesn’t mean I can’t feel bad.”

Papyrus shook his head, “You really are strange. But now it is your turn. Why is your soul so damaged? And, come to think of it, why are you even down here?”

Frisk sighed, “Long story short, my parents hated me, so they beat me. They broke my bones, my spirit and tried to break my mind. One day, I ran away. I walked up this mountain that nobody ever returned from and I jumped in. The plan was to kill myself, but it obviously didn’t work. As for my soul, I was on my way up the mountain when my parents somehow found out that I had left. They came after me and tried to stop me, but I knew if I let them take me back home, they would just do the job for me. I didn’t want them to kill me. I wanted to die on my own terms. It was dark and I was scared, but I saw a large branch that had fallen off one the trees and before I could really think about what I was doing, I was hitting them with it. They fell quickly, but I didn’t stop hitting them,” a shadow fell over her face, “I wanted them to feel the pain they had made me feel for so many years, so I just hit them and hit them and hit them, until I ran out of energy. When I saw what I had done, I ran. I ran all the way up the mountain and I just threw myself in. I deserved to die and I still do. I shouldn’t even be alive right now. I’m just a filthy piece of murdering garbage.”

Papyrus blinked, “You killed your own parents by bludgeoning them to death? Human, I’ve got to say, you’ve got guts.”

A soft pop was heard and the two turned to see Sans, a mustard bottle held in his teeth, his eyes widened as she stared at them, Frisk’s head still in Papyrus’ lap and the skeleton leaning over her, “Am I interrupting something?” he mumbled around the mustard cap.

A blush spread across Papyrus’ face and he jumped up, skittering across the room quickly, “NO!” he shrieked. He coughed and got his voice back under control, “And that wasn’t what it looked like. We were simply talking.”

Sans looked from Papyrus’ flustered face to Frisk’s fever induced red one and shrugged, “Alright, looks legit to me. I’m headed to my room. Don’t get Pap sick, sweetheart.”

Papyrus straightened his shoulders, “I, uh, I should head off to bed as well. It is getting late. Human, for tonight, I will allow you to sleep on our sofa, but if you move an inch, I will know, understand?”

Frisk nodded, “Good night, Papyrus.”

Sans froze in front of his bedroom door, his shoulders stiffening at the words. He was there long enough for Frisk to notice, and then he disappeared into his room.

The next morning, Frisk’s fever had subsided and she was kicked back out into the shed, Sans once again showing up for their daily torture session. He seemed aggravated about something and Frisk could feel it in his blows, each one a little harder than the last. He didn’t lose control like he had last time, but when he finished tossing Frisk around like a ragdoll, he entered her cell and dropped the cinnamon bun in front of her, sliding down the wall to sit next to her, taking out a bottle of mustard and sipping from it slowly, the crack in his skull looking a little better than the night before.

Frisk watched him nervously, his strange behavior throwing her off. After a few minutes of awkward silence, she spoke, her voice shaking slightly, “Can I help you with something?”

Sans didn’t look at her and took another swig of mustard, “Are you afraid of the boss?”

Frisk blinked in surprise, “Well, yes and no. I’m intimidated by him. I make sure not to piss him off, but I’m not necessarily scared of him.”

The skeleton nodded, “Are you scared of me?”

Frisk paled slightly, her hands tightening around the cinnamon bun, her fingernails digging into the soft dough. She opened and closed her mouth, trying to figure out what the monster wanted to hear.

He turned to her and growled, his hand raising into the air and his eyes going dark, “Are you afraid of me?”

Frisk whimpered and cowered away from him, her wounds from earlier still fresh and dripping.

Sans dropped his hand and the red dots reappeared, “I guess that answers that question, then.”

Frisk took a deep breath and spoke, trying to keep her voice as even as possible, “Why do you ask?”

“I’m just… wondering,” he replied, looking lost.

Frisk caught on immediately, “Do you not want me to be afraid of you?”

Sans blushed, “I want to know why you aren’t afraid of the boss. He’s terrifying.”

Frisk smiled weakly, “I’m not afraid of him because I know he won’t hurt me, not seriously, at least. Until he can get to Asgore, I am an important asset to him. You on the other, couldn’t care less about Asgore. You’ve already hurt me seriously several times.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying if you would stand up for yourself a little bit and stop letting him walk all over you, he wouldn’t be nearly as scary.”

Sans snorted, “Are you saying I should fight the boss and get myself killed?”

“No,” Frisk exclaimed, “That’s not what I’m saying at all. All I’m saying is you should talk to him. If you two would just talk to each other, just sit down together and tell the other what’s bothering you, your problems would be a whole lot easier to fix. And don’t say you’ve already tried. If you had sincerely tried, we wouldn’t be here talking about this.”

Sans scoffed, “Do you really think that Pap would listen to anything I’ve gotta say? The guy hates me, that much is obvious. Sitting down and talking isn’t going to make everything butterflies and rainbows.”

Frisk placed a gentle hand on his arm and whispered, “Sans, at least try. I can tell that your brother’s treatment is wearing you down. You can’t keep going like this.”

The skeleton threw her hand off and growled, “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. I’ve been doing just fine for years. A few more won’t kill me.”

“Are you sure, Sans. Tell me, do you really think that you can take being hated for the rest of your life?”

The skeleton’s glare darkened, “I don’t need his love. I’ve already got enough for myself to last a lifetime.”

Frisk snorted, “Please, Sans, you hate yourself more than Papyrus does. Anyone can see that.”

A bone landed inches from the girl’s mending leg, “Shut up.”

“Why? Am I hitting a nerve? Am I making you see the truth, Sans? Are you starting to realize that without your brother, you are nothing?”

Another bone flew at the girl, this one embedding into the wall, centimeters from her ear. Sans’ eye flared, the red light illuminating the room, “Shut up!”

“That’s why you haven’t left, isn’t it?. Because if you don’t have Papyrus, you don’t have anything. How does it feel, Sans? To realize that the one person that hates you most is the one person you need in this life? Tell me Sans, how does it feel?”

“I said SHUT UP!” the skeleton cried, picking the girl up and ramming a bone into her gut, blood dripping from her lips, “You don’t know anything about us. You don’t know anything me. Don’t you dare pretend that you understand what I’m going through, because you don’t,” another bone was thrust into her gut, “You couldn’t possibly understand how it feels to have your hero despise you, and beat you every day! I looked up to him, for such a long time,” tears were flowing down the skeleton’s cheeks as he stabbed another bone into the girl’s gut, “and he did nothing but chastise me and beat me. Do you want to know the only time he has ever said he was proud of me? That day that I found you. Yeah, finding a human was the only thing I’ve ever done that is worthy of the Great Papyrus! So don’t pretend like you know what’s going on with me,” he brought the girl close to his face and spat, “because you don’t.”

He dropped her onto the ground along with a few cinnamon buns and turned to leave, “Don’t choke.”

Before he could leave, Frisk coughed out, “Do you hate Papyrus?”

Sans froze, “I thought I told you to shut up.”

She coughed again, blood dripping onto the cold floor, “Do you hate Papyrus?”

Sans turned to her, tears still dripping down his face, “No,” he whimpered.

Frisk looked at him sadly, her face growing pale as blood continued to leave her, “Talk to him, Sans. And if you can’t bring yourself to talk to him, than talk to someone. You can’t hold all of your emotions in and expect them to go away. That’s not how it works. Just please, talk to someone and stop destroying yourself.”

The bones in her gut vanished and she squeezed her eyes shut, whimpering in pain. Sans didn’t say anything and left, shutting the door softly behind him. Frisk stayed curled up on the floor for a few more seconds, her vision beginning to go black. It would be so easy, so terrifyingly easy to just kill herself now. She closed her eyes and let out a breath, but Toriel’s crying face appeared behind her eyelids and Flowey was next to her,looking at her hopefully. She winced and slowly opened her eyes, her gaze landing on the cinnamon buns. She couldn’t die yet. Toriel was still crying, and until she was happy, Frisk was going to keep moving. She grabbed one of the cinnamon buns and shoved it into her mouth, chewing and swallowing it quickly, color slowly returning to her face. She ate the other three and sat up, touching her abdomen gently. The wounds had closed, just nasty scabs left over.

She looked up at the ceiling and smiled. She could do this. She just had to pull through for a little bit longer.

The next morning, Papyrus didn’t show up. Frisk sat in her corner and waited patiently, but it wasn’t until late afternoon when the door opened and Sans walked in.

“Where’s Papyrus?”

The skeleton sighed, “He had a royal guard meeting he needed to go too. He should be back tomorrow.”

He unlocked her cell door and wandered in, sliding down the wall to sit next to her, his shoulder brushing against hers. She looked at him in confusion, “What are you doing?”

He glanced at her, a red tint covering his cheeks, “I’m talking. What are you doing?”

Her mouth formed a small ‘oh’ and she turned to him, ready to listen.

The skeleton scratched the back of his skull nervously and started, his sentences choppy at first, but slowly his anger at how Papyrus treated him leaked into his voice and her started to talk with his hands, his face showing more emotion than Frisk had ever seen. He talked for hours, tears falling from his eyes as he laid out his soul for Frisk to see, sometimes literally, the small, upside down heart making an appearance whenever Sans’ emotions peaked. The girl couldn’t help but look at it, the soul completely pristine other than a large crack marring the surface. She wondered what had caused it.

When the skeleton finished talking, he sat and sobbed, his fingers twirled into his baggy, red shirt and the gold zipper of his jacket softly tinkling with his movements. Frisk gently wrapped an arm around his shoulders and shushed him quietly, guiding his head onto her shoulder, her fingers tracing small circles over his back.

They sat like that for a little while, Frisk’s shirt quickly becoming damp with Sans’ tears. Eventually, the skeleton pulled back, wiping his face embarrassedly, “Thanks, sweetheart. That actually felt really good. It’s been a long time since I’ve been held like that.”

Frisk smiled, “See? I told you talking would make it better.”

Sans stood and looked down at her curiously, “Sweetie, there’s just one thing I want to know before I hit the hay. Why, after everything I’ve done to you, why are you still so kind to me?”

The girl smiled, “I don’t believe in violence. If you fight fire with fire, then you’re both going to get burned. I believe in mercy and kindness. And even if they get me killed, they’ll affect the person that killed me. Nobody can feel good about killing a defenseless enemy.”

Sans chuckled, “You know, that’s very you,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out cinnamon bun, tossing it into her lap, “I know you don’t need that, but have it anyway. Consider it my treat.”

He left and Frisk laughed, picking up the sweet roll and chomping into it, chewing it happily. She poked her leg when she finished and her smile grew wider. The bone had completely healed, nothing but a bruise left over. She looked up at the ceiling and whispered, “I’m doing it, Flowey.”

She had barely been asleep for an hour when the shed door burst open and Sans rushed in, panic on his face. He shook the girl awake and yelled, “We have to go now!”

Frisk looked up at him and grumbled, “Why? It’s the middle of the night.”

“Undyne is coming back with Papyrus. If she sees you, you’re dead. That stupid fish hates humans even more than I do. She doesn’t care about the souls. If it means she gets to kill a human, she’ll do it,” he fumbled with the leash around her neck, growling when his shaking fingers couldn’t undo the clasps. After a couple of tries, he roared and broke the chain off, a couple of links still dangling from the clip. He grabbed her hand and yanked her behind him, leading her out of the shed and into the forest, where they hid behind a small grouping of bushes.

Sans peeked over the bushes before he took a deep breath, “We’re going to teleport, sweetheart. It’s probably going to make you sick, but it’s the only way we can avoid Undyne. Just grab onto me and hold on.”

Frisk did so, wrapping her arms around the skeleton’s waist and burying her face into his chest, squeezing her eyes shut. Sans stiffened and looked down at her in surprise, “That’s not exactly what I meant,” he mumbled, blushing. He wrapped one of his arms around the girl’s back and they disappeared, the bush leaves rustling softly in the breeze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I ran into a slight problem with updating this story. My computer decided to flip out, so in the process of editing the last chapter to make it a little more readable, it was updated like five times, so sorry about that. This chapter will hopefully go up smoothly, but we'll see if my computer will be kind.


	3. Raining Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the beautiful caves of Waterfall, something hunts Frisk, determined to kill her no matter what. But it turns out this human is a little more resilient than expected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have another chapter! Oh boy! We meet Undyne and oh man, she mad. We also get our first look at Mettaton and Alphys, and what a pair they are. Honestly, I don't really know how I feel about them in this. I feel like I made Undyne to similar to the original and Alphys a little to bland, but I don't know. I guess let me know what you guys think. Enjoy!

As soon as they reappeared, Frisk sat down, holding her abdomen and putting her head between her knees, her stomach flipping violently. Sans stood over her, looking down at her in worry. Her breathing faltered and she leaned over, puking all over the dark, green grass they had landed on.

Sans’ eyes widened and he took a step back, “Should you be doing that, sweetheart? It doesn’t look healthy.”

Frisk wiped her mouth, sitting back up stiffly, “It’s fine. It’s just my body responding to unfamiliar things.”

Sans sighed in relief, “Alright. If you’re okay, let’s get moving. It probably won’t take Undyne long to realize you were there and once she does, she’s going to come looking. She’s not the head of the royal guard for nothing.”

Frisk stood, still looking a little green, “Are we going to teleport again?”

The skeleton chuckled, “No, we’ll walk for a bit. We probably have enough of a head start on her to get away with that.”

He led the girl through a large waterfall, the water splitting for them as they walked through. When she saw the other side, she gasped, looking around at the wet, rock walls in wonder. Embedded in all of the walls were small, shiny rocks that were lit up in the dark cavern, the aqua colored light glittering in the darkness, lighting up the entire area, giving it a supernatural feel. Along the walls grew big, light blue flowers that glowed in the dark, their large petals softly swaying with the cavern breeze. Frisk laughed as she took in everything, her eyes wide and full of awe.

Sans chuckled at her reaction, “Welcome to Waterfall, honey. This is the prettiest place in the underground, which you probably had already guessed.”

“It’s beautiful,” Frisk breathed, “It’s like something from a fairy tale.”

“Yeah, be that as it may, you can wonder at the sight as we walk. We’ve got to keep moving or Undyne will catch and krill us.”

Frisk froze and turned, staring at him incredulously. After a moment, she grinned, “Whale, we don’t want that, so let’s get going and avoid that turtle disaster.”

Sans grinned back, “You’ve cod-a be kidding me. Those puns were terrible, honey.”

“Speak for yourself.”

They laughed and started walking, trading puns every now and then as they traveled through the calming area. Sometime after the last pun was made, Frisk fingered the collar that was still around her neck, “Hey, Sans,” she asked, “Can we take the collar off? It’s not very comfortable.”

The skeleton turned to look at her, his gaze analyzing. He shook his head, “Nah. I think it looks good on ya’.”

She grumbled, “Then can you at least loosen it? It’s been rubbing uncomfortably since you put it on.”

Sans looked at her sheepishly, “Sorry, sweetheart. I forgot I put it on tighter than normal. Come here,” he gently loosened the collar, setting it to rest softly against her collar bone, “There. That better?”

She nodded and rubbed the red line the collar had made, “Yeah. Thanks.”

They walked for a few more miles and then Frisk spoke again, “You know, I think this is the longest I’ve ever been around you that you haven’t hit me. What’s up with that? Don’t tell me you were only beating me up because of Papyrus."  
“No, of course not,” the skeleton reassured, “I just… The talk we had last night, it was nice. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that free before. And as I was telling you some of the things Pap had done to me, I realized how similar they were to what I was doing to ya’. And I didn’t want that. I really look up to Pap, I mean, he’s awesome, but I don’t want to treat people the way he does. He’s so lonely and I don’t want to follow that path.”

Frisk nodded, “That makes sense. So does that mean you’re not going to beat anyone up anymore, or is it just me?”

Sans looked at her and smiled, “I don’t know, sweetheart, you’re pretty special, so it might just be you.”

Frisk blushed and looked away. Sans laughed and kept walking, his hands still in his pockets. The human looked at the small sliver of bone that was visible between the pocket fabric and the sleeve and hesitantly grabbed the skeleton’s arm, making him stop and turn to her. She carefully pulled his hand from his pocket and slid her own into it, smiling up at him as she laced their fingers together, “Is this okay?” She whispered, “You said last night that you hadn’t been held in a long time, so I thought, maybe, this would be good…” she slowly trailed off as Sans continued to stare at her, his face expressionless.

She started to retract her fingers, looking embarrassed when Sans grabbed her hand, his fingers digging into the back of her hand, “No,” he said forcefully, “It’s fine.”

She looked surprised and then smiled, clasping their hands together once again.

They continued walking, the chain links on Frisk’s collar jingling softly. It had been several hours since they had started walking and the girl yawned, her feet dragging in the dirt. Sans looked at her and chuckled, looking around at the field of blue flowers that they had wandered into, “I guess this is as good a place as any.”

He sat down, pulling Frisk along with him. The girl’s free hand brushed against a couple of the flowers and, suddenly, the air was full of voices. Angry yells, soft whispers, hopeless dreams mixing together into a cacophony of sound.

Frisk yelped and looked around frantically, confused. Sans sighed and waited for the flowers to stop before explaining, “These are echo flowers. They repeat the last thing they heard over and over again. A lot of people come here to yell at the world, some to ask for things that will never happen, their hopes and dreams forever recorded in the flowers.”

Frisk looked around at the beautiful flora, “That’s really sad. So many lost wishes, why would anyone want that.”

Sans shrugged, “I don’t know if any of us want it, but it’s what we have. We can’t always use violence to get over our anger and heartbreak about the war and King Asgore’s poor leadership. So we use these. They’re an easy anger outlet that let’s others know that you’re just as angry as they are.”

Frisk let go of Sans’ hand and stood, wandering through the field and gently touching the flowers, tears building in her eyes as she heard the broken voices begging for a better world that they knew couldn’t exist. She quickly lost track of time, losing herself in the dreams of others. Towards the end of the field, she came across a flower that was hidden in a corner. She gently tapped one of its petals and a child’s broken voice filled the air, “I want my parents to stop fighting. I want my siblings back. I want to see the real stars. I just want everything to be okay again. When will it all be okay again?” Tears fell down Frisk’s face and she noticed a second, smaller flower nestled next to the child’s recording. She tapped it and smiled when nothing was heard. Leaning down close to it, she softly whispered, “Soon. Everything will be okay soon, I promise.”

She stood back up and wiped her eyes, heading back to Sans, who was sitting exactly where she had left him.

“You ready to sleep?” he asked, not commenting on her previous actions.

She nodded and laid down, curling into a ball and dozing off.

Sans shook his head and laid on his back next to her, placing his hands behind his head and crossing his ankles, looking up at the stone covered ceiling, the luminescence almost making the rocks look like stars. A noise caught his attention and he turned, noticing the girl shivering violently. He sighed and quietly took off his jacket, wrapping it around the girl carefully.

She mumbled something and rolled over to face him, snuggling deeper into the warm jacket. He huffed and looked back up at the ‘stars’, falling asleep a short time later.

When he woke up, he was warmer than expected. Without his jacket, he had figured he would be feeling the chill, but he was surprisingly comfortable. He noticed a heavy feeling on his chest and looked down, rolling his eyes when he saw Frisk curled into his side, her head on his chest and his jacket half covering him, “Should have known,” he grumbled, “The little fart can’t let anyone go without, even in her sleep.”

He shook her awake and laughed at the blush that immediately slid onto her face, even her ears tinting red, “Comfortable, darling?”

She quickly stood and wiped the dirt off her clothes, the blush still very present, “Sorry,” she mumbled, “I didn’t mean too.”

Sans waved her off, standing and wiping himself off, “Don’t worry about it. You were just sharing the love.” He put his jacket back on and cracked his knuckles and spine, sighing at the feeling, “You ready to go?”

She nodded and they headed off, their hands quickly finding each other as they traveled, Frisk still in awe at the beauty of her surroundings. Only one or two hours after they started, they came across a wonky bridge that seemed to go every which way and Sans stopped, looking around carefully.

“What is it?” Frisk asked, looking around as well, but not seeing anything.

Sans shook his head, “I don’t know, but something isn’t right,” he jumped back as a bright blue spear suddenly slammed into the wood in front of him, a curse escaping his lips, “Undyne’s here. We have to move, now.”

They started to run, spears landing around them, the deadly tips coming inches from their racing feet. Sans swore as they swerved around the bridge, sharp corners and dead ends slowing them down. Frisk looked between the floorboards as they ran and noticed a dark silhouette, large spikes coming from its head and a long, messy ponytail flowing behind it.

Sans cursed loudly as they came to a long dead end, a flurry of spears keeping them from going back. The skeleton swore as the spears slowly got closer, his hand curling tighter around Frisk’s as his mind raced through their options. He growled when he realized they really only had one and he dragged the girl into his chest, wrapping his arms around her and teleporting.

She fell to the ground when they landed and threw up, her stomach roiling. Sans gasped for air next to her, one hand on her back as she puked, his eyes wide, “That was way to close,” he mumbled, “We have to move faster. I knew she would catch onto us quickly, but I never thought it would be that fast.”

Frisk wiped her chin and groaned, “Does that mean more teleporting?”

Sans looked apologetic, “Sorry, sweetheart, but that means more teleporting.”

A sound made Frisk focus in on their surroundings and she scrunched her nose when she realized where they were, “Are we in the dump?”

“Yeah. It was the first place I thought of.”

The girl stood up and walked in the direction the noise had come from, grimacing when she stepped in a shallow pool of water, the dirty liquid coming up to her ankles. The noise came again and she walked up to the garbage pile it had come from, looking around it hesitantly. She jumped back when something popped out of the pile, a flash of green and yellow visible before she was on her back in the water, something babbling on top of her. She carefully grabbed the thing and sat up, looking at it worriedly. Her eyes widened in surprise, “Flowey?”

The flower cried, “Yes! Frisk, I thought you were dead!” Tears were streaming down the plant’s face, his leaves flailing in the air.

Frisk hugged the flower, “I thought you were dead, too! All Papyrus said was that he threw you to the side when he was trying to save me. I’m so happy to see you.”

The flower cried into her shoulder and then noticed Sans standing behind them, the skeleton kicking at the water awkwardly. Immediately, he stopped crying and hissed, flying from Frisk’s grasp and slamming into the monster’s face, screeching, “I’m going to kill you!”

Frisk yelped and snatched the flower off Sans, holding him tightly as he struggled, threats and curses falling from his lips. Sans looked at the flower in shock, “This is your flower friend? I don’t remember him being quite so violent.”

“Flowey, stop it,” Frisk chided, slapping the flower upside the head, looking at him disapprovingly, “I know that Sans wasn’t very nice when you were with me, but he’s changed. He’s helping me get through the rest of the underground.”

“Probably just so he can steal your soul once you get to Asgore. We should just dump him here. That way he’ll by right where he belongs, in the trash.”

Sans shrugged, “You were already here, so I don’t get your point.”

Flowey snarled and turned to Frisk, “You can’t tell me that you actually trust this guy? He can’t be good for anyone. I mean, what has he ever done for you?”

“Well,” Frisk said, glaring at the flower, “He just saved me from Undyne twice. I think that counts as something.”

“But he’s a piece of edgy garbage. Everyone knows that. I’ve been talking to people, Frisk. Everybody says that the skeleton brothers are backstabbing jerks that you shouldn’t trust with your pinky finger, much less your life.”

“Look, Flowey,” Frisk snapped, “I’m not asking you to trust him. I’m asking you to trust me. Can you do that?”

The flower’s eyes widened and he nodded, “But at the first sign of betrayal, I’m shanking him.”

“Flowey, we’re not killing people. Now stop whining. Sans is coming with us, whether you like it or not.”

The flower grumbled and wrapped around Frisk’s neck, hiding underneath the collar, mumbling, “He’s even treating you like a freaking dog,” before growing silent.

Sans clapped his hands together, “Well, now that we’ve got that fun time over with, let’s keep moving.”

He wrapped an arm around Frisk’s shoulders and teleported, the girl managing to stay on her feet when they landed, her face turning slightly green. Sans looked around at the large mountain in front of them in confusion, “I was aiming for Hotland, but I guess this works."

“It works perfectly for me!” came from the top of the mountain and they all looked up, an armored figure standing on the peak, blood red hair flowing epically behind it, a spear held in one hand, “Sorry, Sans, but I need you stay out of this one,” the figure called, picking up a giant boulder and chucking it at the skeleton, who dodged just a few seconds to late. The boulder slammed into his skull and he fell to the ground, his chest still rising and falling.

Frisk looked up at the warrior and yelled, “Are you Undyne?”

The figure reached up and took off her helmet, blue-green scales shimmering in the stone light, her single eye flashing menacingly, the other covered by a black eyepatch. Her ears were finned, the points tinted red and her lips were covered in a deep red lipstick, the color making her scales pop. She stepped closer to the edge of the cliff and looked down at Frisk, the girl getting a look at the rest of her body. She had on a breastplate that cut off at her midriff, a large scar racing across her belly, disrupting the scale growth, some patches of flesh visible around the healed wound. “You bet I am,” she called, “I’m the best fighter down here, second only to Asgore himself.” She laughed and jumped off the mountain, landing in front of Frisk with a thud, the rock cracking beneath her. She grinned and threw something at Frisk, the girl catching it clumsily, “I like to watch my victims dance before they die, so take that and give me everything you’ve got.”

Frisk fumbled with the large piece of metal Undyne had given her, looking up at the fish warrior fearfully. The fish smirked and the battle began. Spears rained down on Frisk, slamming into the shield, a couple slicing through her skin. She gritted her teeth and cried, “I don’t want to fight you!”

The warrior laughed, “Nobody does!”

Frisk blocked some more spears and tried again, “I don’t want to fight anyone. Please, I just want to help everyone down here.”

Undyne faltered, her eyes widening at the words. She shook it off and guffawed, “Please. You’re a human. The only things humans want are death and destruction. Lying won’t get you out of this battle. The only way you could possibly survive is by running away!”

Frisk smiled at the words, “Well, in that case,” she held the metal in front of her and ran towards Undyne, screaming as loud as she could.

The fish woman stumbled back, surprise on her face and Frisk dropped the metal and yelled “Flowey, grab Sans!” The flower fell off her shoulder and wrapped some roots around Sans’ unconscious body, racing after Frisk as the girl ran into the mountain.

Undyne stood for a moment, still in shock, but she quickly recovered, turning and running after the human, a snarl on her face.

They ran for several minutes, more spears falling around them. Frisk hollered excitedly when they passed a sign that read ‘Welcome to Hotland’ in big, neon letters. Undyne growled and ran faster, her scales beginning to lose their shininess.

Frisk and Flowey looked behind them and yelped when they saw how close Undyne was getting, the sweat on her face visible. They picked up speed and sprinted the rest of the way into Hotland, looking behind them once again and seeing Undyne slowly trudging across a small bridge, her face and neck soaked in sweat and her scales looking more green than blue. She got to the end of the bridge and stopped, looking at Frisk tiredly, “Must stop human,” she panted, closing her eye, “But armor so hot.”

She fell face first onto the ground, her tongue sticking out and her face twitching. Frisk looked at Flowey, who sighed in relief and dropped Sans, “I was sure we were going to die there. Oh, look, water,” he wandered over to a water jug that was just sitting by the bridge and took a large gulp from it, spraying the water straight into his mouth.

Frisk looked back at the fish woman, her scales slowly drying up, the green turning an ugly puce. She walked over to the water jug and picked up a small cup, filling it with water and taking it to Undyne, kneeling in front of her and dumping the cold liquid onto her, watching anxiously as it dripped down her cheeks, her lipstick smearing slightly.

Her eyelid twitched and she stood slowly, one hand held to her head, “What happened?” she murmured tiredly, looking around and noticing Frisk with the empty cup in hand. She looked around desperately for any other explanation and turned back to Frisk, a look of deep confusion on her face. She quickly turned and walked away, her steps uneven and unsure.

Frisk sighed and turned back to Flowey, who was still by the water jug, watching her in disbelief, “Did you really just do that?” he asked, “She’s going to come after us again. Frisk, she wasn’t in any danger. Why did you do that?”

“She would have died from the heat, Flowey. She’s a fish. They need water. At this temperature, she would have dried up and died. You know I can’t let that happen. Then that promise we made would be pointless.”

Sans grumbled something and Frisk headed over to him, checking his head carefully, sighing in relief when she didn’t see any lasting damage. She gestured for Flowey to join them, “Come on. We may as well rest while we’re here. It’s a good time to get some sleep.”

Flowey looked back at the way Undyne had gone and grumbled, popping up next to Frisk and curling up in her side, the two quickly falling asleep while Sans mumbled quietly.

When they awoke, Frisk sat up, immediately checking on Sans, relief washing over her when she saw that he was still there. Flowey watched her, a worried look on his face, “Do you like him?” he asked, suddenly.

Frisk blushed, “No. What gives you that idea?”

“Oh, I don’t know. The absolute belief in him even though he’s almost killed you how many times. Being perfectly okay with him randomly hugging you. Checking on him immediately after you wake up. You know, just the little things.”

Frisk’s blush deepened and she grumbled, “He wasn’t randomly hugging me. He was teleporting. There has to be physical contact for it to work. And of course I’m going to check on him immediately. A boulder was smashed into his head last night. That would kill most people.”

Flowey rolled his eyes, “Whatever. I just want you to know that it’s almost painfully obvious.”

Sans suddenly sat up, holding his head and looking around in confusion, “Did I miss something?”

Frisk sighed in relief, “Yeah. Undyne knocked you out before we fought. Flowey brought you here with us afterward. We both just woke up too.”

The skeleton growled and stood, “I’ve never liked the fish. She plays dirty. Plus, she’s super loud. It gets on my nerves.”

Flowey sighed, “Well, I still think that Frisk should have just let her be, but she of course had to spare her and show mercy, so Undyne is still out there on the prowl, probably thinking of a new way to kill us.”

A catchy tune suddenly filled the air and Sans fished in his pocket, pulling out a cell phone and holding it up to his ear, “Hey, Pap, what’s up?” Papyrus’ voice could be heard over the receiver and Sans raised an eyebrow, looking over at Frisk in confusion, “Okay, Pap. We’ll check on her. Sorry about the inconvenience.” He put the phone back in his pocket and asked, “What exactly did you do to Undyne? Apparently, she’s not coming out of her house and is claiming that the human ruined her life and that she can never show her face to any monster ever again.”

Frisk shrugged, looking a little worried, “I just stopped her from getting heat stroke. Is she okay?”

A look of glee crossed Sans’ face, “Oh, so you saved her life,” he grabbed Flowey and tossed him onto Frisk’s shoulder, grabbing the girl’s arm and snickering, “We’re going to check on Undyne really quick.”

They teleported to a small yard, a beat up fighting dummy sitting in the corner and a large house that looked like a fish’s head taking up most of the space. Papyrus was standing in front of the door, a displeased look of worry on his face.

Sans walked up to him, “So what’s the rundown? Is she angry or sad or anything?”

Papyrus sighed, “She’s playing piano.”

Sans paled, “It’s that serious?”

Papyrus turned and shot Frisk a glare, “Human, I am not sure what you did, but Undyne refuses to leave her home. So, as your…friend… I must ask that you fix whatever error you have made so that Undyne returns to her job. There was supposed to be a royal guard meeting today.” Frisk nodded and walked up to the door, looking nervous. She raised her hand to knock, but Papyrus interrupted, thrusting a popsicle her way, “Oh, and give her this. She loves these.”

Frisk uncertainly took the popsicle and knocked on the door, Sans and Flowey disappearing somewhere when it creaked open, revealing a tank top clad, very pissed off Undyne, “Papyrus,” she growled, “I told you to go away. We’ll have the meeting tomorrow.”

When she saw Frisk, her expression hardened and she glared at the skeleton, “Why is the human here?”

“She is here to apologize for what she did and fix it.”

Undyne scowled, “She? Since when did humans become people?”

Papyrus smirked, placing a gloved hand on Frisk’s shoulders proudly, “Since I became friends with one.”

Undyne laughed, “You? Friends? Please, Papyrus, you and I aren’t even friends! You can’t expect me to believe that you befriended a human.”

Frisk nodded, “It’s true. Papyrus is a really great friend. One of the best.”

“If you don’t believe me, you can try it out yourself,” the skeleton’s smirk grew, “I bet that you can’t befriend the human faster than I did.”

Undyne drew in a long breath and grinned, “Oh, yeah? Well you better be ready to eat your words, cause I’m going to do it in an hour,” she grabbed Frisk and dragged her into the house, slamming the door in Papyrus’ face, “Alright, human, we’re going to do this and we’re going to do it right. Sit down and I’ll bring you a cup of tea.”

Frisk did as she was told, taking a seat at the small kitchen table and waiting patiently as the water boiled, Undyne’s back to her. An awkward silence permeated the air and Frisk coughed uncomfortably, looking around curiously as she waited. Several spears were scattered around the room, one leaning against a baby grand piano. Frisk looked at it in interest and asked, “Where did you get the piano? I haven’t seen any music shops down here.”

Undyne turned to her, “Found it in the dump. My girlfriend helped me drag it here and we set it up together.”

“You have a girlfriend?”

The fish’s glare hardened, “Do you have a problem with it?”

Frisk waved her hands apologetically, “No, I just didn’t take you for the dating type. You seem more like a lone lonely loner.”

Undyne snorted, “That’s what I thought too, but let’s just say Alphys has this thing about her. She’s a total nerd, but she almost makes it endearing. Although, I do get sick of ramen sometimes."

The kettle whistled and Undyne quickly poured the water into cute, fish shaped cups, handing one of them to Frisk, “Don’t burn yourself.”

They sipped their tea quietly, the awkwardness growing thicker, until Frisk was sure that she could actually see it. She looked at Undyne, who looked extremely uncomfortable and spoke, her voice quiet, “I’m sorry I splashed water on you, if that’s what you’re mad about. You looked like you were drying up and I couldn’t think of anything else to do.”

Undyne scowled into her cup, “That’s not why I’m mad. I don’t understand why you did it. Everything I know about humans tells me that I should be dead right now. You should have just left me to die. But you didn’t. You saved my life. And I don’t get why,” she slammed the cup on the table, some tea splashing over the side, “After I knocked your boyfriend out and tried to kill you, why would you help me? It doesn’t make sense, and I don’t like it when my life doesn’t make sense. I have a very strict schedule, you know. And there isn’t a time slot for not making sense.”

Frisk sighed, not meeting the fish’s glare. Undyne huffed, “Well, are you going to explain yourself?”

The girl shrugged, “I don’t really know what to say. I know that there are plenty other humans who would have just left you to die, but I couldn’t. I know what it feels like to know you’re about to die and not be able to do anything about it and I don’t like it when I see other people going through what I have. You were dying and I couldn’t just watch you die. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did that.”

Undyne blinked at her, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Frisk bristled, “Your face is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

They both sat in shock for a moment, Frisk quickly blushing and beginning to apologize profusely. Undyne snorted and then started laughing, a deep belly laugh that had her almost falling out of her chair.

She wiped her eye, “Geez, kid, if you act like that a little bit more, you’d be a lot easier to be around. Honestly, you’re so stiff. Let loose. Say things you’ll regret and do crap that kills your brain cells,” she stood and walked over to Frisk, “Like cooking, for example. Nothing more dangerous than making your own food.”

Frisk stared at her in disbelief, “Um, Undyne, I don’t think that’s entirely correct.”

The fish laughed, “You’ll see. Come on. I was supposed to be giving one of the dogs cooking lessons anyway, so this will work perfectly. But I am warning you,” she grabbed Frisk’s head and picked her up, raising her to eye level, “If you burn my house down, I will kill you.”

The warrior jumped over to the counter and dropped Frisk, ignoring the girl’s pained whine as she gathered ingredients, piling a bunch of vegetables on the counter and filling a pot with water, setting it on to boil, “Okay, human, we’re going to start with something easy. Smash the vegetables into a pulp, like this,” she raised her fist and slammed it onto the counter, carrot juice exploding all over the wall.

Frisk copied her movements, raising a fist and punching a tomato as hard as she could. The fruit wobbled slightly and fell over with a small plop.

Undyne looked unimpressed, “Work on that.”

She quickly smashed the rest of the plants, creating a juice rainbow on the counter and wall, the sticky substance slowly dripping onto the floor, “We’ll scrape that off later. But for now, we move onto the noodles,” she handed Frisk a bag of spaghetti, “Toss that into the pot.”

Frisk opened the bag and started to pour the noodles in. Undyne made a noise of disapproval and Frisk looked at her, a little confused. The fish didn’t say anything, just raised an eyebrow. Frisk rolled her eyes and dropped the bag into the pot, the wrapper crinkling as it hit the bottom.

Undyne grinned, “Good work. Now, we let the noodles cook while we stir them and make them feel our anger.”

She handed Frisk a spoon and the girl began to stir, spinning the noodles around as fast as she could, her arm quickly growing tired. Undyne cheered her on, a spear suddenly appearing over the pot and slamming into it multiple times, smashing it almost flat. There was just enough room for the spaghetti to swirl at the bottom.

“Good stirring, kid. Those noodles didn’t know what hit them. But this is my favorite part. Now that they’re sufficiently stirred, we get to let them simmer for a bit. So turn up the heat.”

Frisk did so, quietly turning the burner up, the flame slowly getting bigger. Undyne cackled behind her, chanting, “Hotter! Hotter! More, more, more!"

Frisk looked uncertain, but she continued to crank up the heat. Undyne was the expert after all. Suddenly, when the flame had almost completely enveloped the pot, there was a loud bang and the pot exploded, water spraying every which way, the fire licking at the cabinets, the water seeming to feed it instead of putting it out. Frisk stared at the chaos in horror, turning to Undyne, who was looking like she regretted her life decisions.

A few minutes later, they were standing on Undyne’s lawn, watching as fire consumed the fish house. The owner of said house turned to Frisk, murder on her face, “What did I say about burning my house down?!”

Frisk blanched, “You were the one telling me to make the fire hotter!”

“Oh, so now it’s my fault?” Undyne snarled, pulling a spear of the air, “I should have ended you a long time ago. Good thing you gave me a second chance!’

She threw the spear and Frisk dodged, Undyne growling at her, “You can’t run away this time. So either fight me or die.”

Frisk looked around desperately, but there was nothing around to help her. She looked at Undyne and sighed, taking in a deep breath and running towards her, squeezing her eyes shut as she pulled back a fist, a scream tearing from her throat as she punched the warrior with all her might. She peeked an eye open and looked up at Undyne, who was staring down at her, her eye twitching, an unimpressed smirk on her face. Frisk stepped back and whispered a quiet apology.

Undyne started laughing, “You are pathetic,” she cried, “Even when you hit me with everything you have, you still can’t harm me. I’m glad we did this, human. Now I can stop wasting my time. There’s no fun in fighting an opponent that I’m so much better than,” she started to walk away, still laughing, “Hey, Sans, I’m going to be at your guys’ house for the next few weeks, just until mine stops burning.”

Frisk turned to see Sans standing next to the training dummy, amusement on his face, “For a minute there, I thought you were actually going to hit her. That was a very convincing fake punch, sweetheart.”

Frisk grinned and walked towards him, “I wasn’t sure if she actually bought it. Thank goodness she did. She’s scary.”

“She’s head of the royal guard, honey. Being scary is part of her job.”

Frisk laughed and grabbed Sans’ hand, squeezing her eyes shut as they teleported. Flowey popped out of Sans’ jacket when they reappeared and grumbled, “That entire thing was pointless. We didn’t make friends with her and her house burned down. I don’t see how we helped her.”

Frisk stroked the flower’s petals, “She came out of her house, didn’t she? And I think she looked a lot better than when I first went in. Maybe we don’t have to become friends with everyone. Maybe just being kind to everyone is enough. What do you think?”

Flowey grumbled, “I still think that whole ordeal was stupid.”

Frisk frowned, worry entering her eyes, “Flowey, are you okay? You seem off lately.”

“I’m fine.” The flower hissed, “Just go hang out with your boyfriend. I’m going to take a nap.”

The plant curled up around Frisk’s neck and quickly fell asleep, his face still set in a scowl. The girl sighed and wandered over to Sans, who was leaning over the edge, looking down at the lava that was surrounding them.

“How long until we’re through Hotland?”

Sans glanced at her, “Depends. I need make a quick stop before we can get going, but it shouldn’t take to long. And once we reach the Core, we’re basically at the castle. We should be to the king within a day, maybe two.”

Frisk nodded, “Good. The sooner we get to the king, the better.”

Sans looked back at the lava, “Flowey told me about your past, the way your parents treated you and why you came down here.”

Frisk froze, but didn’t say anything.

“It made me wonder. When you get to the king, what are you going to do? Surely, you wouldn’t be stupid enough to give him your soul, but who knows, you’re full of surprises.”

“I’ll deal with Asgore when we get there, but we have to actually get there first, so let’s go.”

Sans sighed and grabbed her hand, linking their fingers together, “You had better not die on me, sweetheart,” he grumbled, “I don’t deal with losing things very well.”

They started walking, only a few minutes passing when they reached a large white building that had the word ‘LAB’ written in big capital letters on top of it, “And here we are. The home and workplace of the one and only Doctor Alphys,” Sans declared, gesturing at the building grandly, “It won’t take to long. The good doctor has something for me, so I’m just going to pick it up and then we’ll be on our way.”

He led the girl into the building, keeping a hold of her hand as they walked into a large, unlit room, dark shadows leaning against the walls, but it was too dark to make out what they were.

“Hey, Alphys, you home?” Sans called, his voice echoing slightly.

A panicked whisper was heard and the lights flicked on, revealing a nervous looking dinosaur standing in front of them, her tail swishing back and forth and her hands wringing senselessly in front of her. A lab coat was dragging behind her, it’s whiteness contrasting against the dark yellow of her scales. She looked extremely uncomfortable, “H-hi, Sans. What, uh, what brings you hear?”

“The thing I asked for a little while ago. You called and said it was ready.”

“Oh, th-that’s right! Sorry, I’m, um, a little scatterbrained today. Just let me go grab it. I’ll, um, I’ll be right back.”

She whipped around and ran away, her lab coat flapping behind her. Sans shook his head, “Don’t let her fool you. I can see that friendly glint in your eye, and I’m just going to tell you now, stay away from her. She may seem like a sweet, shy dinosaur, but she’s a mad scientist. The last human she got her hands on was torn to bits and stitched back together more times than I want to know. If you go down to the basement, the body will still probably be there.”

Frisk paled, “Then why are we here?”

“Oh, don’t worry. She won’t do anything to you while I’m here. She may be mad, but she’s not stupid.”

A sudden bang caught their attention and they turned to an empty wall that stood next to them, the bang coming again. Alphys ran back into the room, a small box in hand and froze, one of her eyes beginning to twitch. She clutched the box and muttered, “Oh no, not again. I- I don’t have time for this.”

Sans grumbled something and pushed Frisk behind him, slowly backing away from the wall. The bang came one more time and then the wall exploded, bits of plaster flying everywhere. A metal box rolled out of the wall, a large, cracked screen on the front flashing different colors as it raised four arms over its head, a microphone held tightly in one of them, “Hello, darlings!” it cried, voice like a late night talk show host. It saw Frisk and Sans and clapped two of its hands together excitedly, “Ooh, we have guests! Alphys, if you had told me that, I would have been here sooner!”

The scientist growled, “I thought you were at an audition.”

The robot waved her off, “Oh, that old thing? It turned out it was for parts in the ensemble. And I refuse to be anything but the star of the show. After all, I have to show off this bod somehow.”

Alphys rolled her eyes and grumbled, “Well, I’m afraid that these guys were just leaving. So you’ll have to find someone else to pick on.”

“Alphys, I’m hurt. Don’t you want me around? I mean, you created me, so doesn’t that mean you want company?”

Sans leaned over to Frisk and whispered, “That’s Mettaton. He’s probably the most narcissistic, violent, and dramatic monster down here. He’s how Alphys got her job. She created a robot with a soul and that thing was born.”

Mettaton raised a hand up to the side of his box, and leaned toward them, “Do I hear someone spreading dirty talk? Well, we can’t have that. Everybody knows that if you’re going to say something rude, you should say it for everyone to hear. So go ahead and speak up, Skelly. I’m sure our audience will love to hear it.”

“Audience?” Frisk asked, looking around for anyone else that had popped out of the wall.

The robot laughed, “But of course,” he tapped on something right above his screen, “I have a camera right here that is rolling 24/7. Why do you think I carry this microphone around? For looks?” he looked down at his bare wrist and gasped, “Speaking of which, it’s about time for the game show! Are you ready to become famous, dear?”

Frisk looked to Sans, panic on her face. The skeleton shook his head and murmured, “Just go with it. Once you’re chosen as a contestant, you can’t get out of it.”

The robot clapped his hands, and the lights darkened, flashing strobe lights turning on and swirling around the room. Alphys stepped in front of the robot and crossed her arms, her countenance much more aggressive than earlier, “Mettaton, you are not hosting a game show in my house.”

The robot simply laughed and pushed her aside, “Try and stop me, honey.”

Three of the strobe lights focused on the host and the two contestants and Mettaton cried, “Hello, everybody! Welcome back to the game! Today, we have two very special guests with us, Sans the skeleton and Frisk the human! And going from their hands, I’d say, if they’re not dating now, they will be soon.There’s nothing better than two lovers playing a game together, am I right? Let the game begin.”

He threw confetti into the air and rolled up to Sans, holding the microphone up to his mouth, “Are you ready to answer some questions?”

“Screw you.”

Mettaton laughed, “We’ve got some salt here! Well, I hope your brain is as sharp as your tongue, cause we’ve got a whole lot of questions for you to answer!” he pulled some notecards out of somewhere and switched over to Frisk, “Question number one! What is the king’s full name?”

Sans covered Frisk’s mouth before she could say anything, shaking his head at her, “We’re not going to play his stupid game.”

The robot waited patiently for a timer to go off and then he sighed, “The correct answer is Asgore Dreemurr. I’m sorry, but you did not answer the question correctly, which means it’s time for our first shock.”

Sans’ eyes widened, “Wait, shock? You never said anything about a shock.”

“Oh, didn’t I?” Mettaton asked maliciously, “My bad. With every wrong answer, the contestant gets a shock. The strength of the shock will go up after every question.”

Frisk’s muscles clenched as electricity shot through her and Sans growled. Mettaton continuing as if he wasn’t being glared at, “Next question! This one is for you Sans, but it’s an easy one. Two trains, Train A and Train B, simultaneously depart Station A and Station B. Station A and B are 252.5 miles apart from each other. Train A is moving at 124.7 miles per hour towards Station B, and Train B is moving at 253.5 miles per hour towards Station A. If both trains departed at 10:00 a.m. and it is now 10:08, how much longer until both trains pass each other?”

Frisk stared at the robot dumbfounded while Sans mumbled under breath, his fingers drawing numbers into the air. Right as the buzzer went off, he yelled, “Thirty-two minutes!”

Mettaton clapped, “Splendid! We have a real mathematician with us today! Now, onto the next question.”

The game continued, the questions getting harder and more ridiculous. At one point, the robot pulled out a jar of flies and told Sans to count them in ten seconds. Frisk’s hair began to smoke with the following shock. At last, when Frisk was half conscious, her clothes and hair smoking and she was leaning heavily on Sans, Mettaton called out the last question, “This one’s for Frisk. Now, as I’ve been hosting this show, I’ve noticed something about you two. And I’m hoping that this question will clear up my suspicions. Frisk, would you smooch a skeleton?"

Sans blanched and a dark blush spread across Frisk’s cheeks, her eyes widening slightly. Flowey popped his head up, looking at the girl curiously.

“The timer’s ticking, darling.”

Frisk squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled deeply, her voice louder than expected as she yelled, “Yes!”

Sans almost dropped her and Mettaton clapped excitedly, “Oh, I knew it!” he spun around in circle, “That’s all the time we have, folks! Come back next week for more drama, romance and a whole lot of me.”

The lights returned to normal and Mettaton stopped moving, his excited aura changing into a much more threatening one. He rolled up to Frisk and growled, “How dare you. That was my show. I am the star here, and you dare to steal my thunder?” he jabbed Frisk in the chest as she spoke, “If I ever see you on camera again, I will end you.”

He backed up and his wheel flipped over, revealing a rocket that he launched into the air with, breaking through the lab ceiling and disappearing from sight.

Alphys sighed and rubbed her head, “That guy always gives me a headache. Here’s your thing, Sans. Now, if you would please leave, I’m going to take a nap.”

She disappeared into a small door labeled as the bathroom and Sans shrugged, picking Frisk up and exiting the lab, walking a little ways away before putting the girl down and pulling a cinnamon bun from his pocket, “Here, sweetheart. This should heal you right up.”

Frisk quickly ate it and turned to Sans, “Do you think that Mettaton was serious about the camera thing?”

“Who knows? Celebrities are fickle things and you shouldn’t take anything they say to heart. I’m sure we’ll see Mettaton again, but I’ll try to avoid him. He’s one of those people that just gets on your nerves.”

Flowey suddenly screeched, pointing a leaf behind them, “Guys, I think we have a problem.”

The two turned and stared at an advancing monster, it’s eyes hungry and focused on Frisk, “Hey, Sansy,” it slurred, obviously drunk, “What do you want for the human? I’ll give you whatever you want.”

Sans growled, “The human ain’t for sell.”

The monster stopped, a shadow crossing its face, “Then I’ll just take it by force,” it raced towards the pair, its claws unsheathed and a crooked grin on its face.

Sans rolled his eyes and summoned a bone, slamming it into the monster’s face, knocking the drunk to the ground. He stepped towards it, a dark look on his face, grabbing hold of Frisk’s collar and dragging her behind him, “This human is mine,” he spat, wrapping an arm around Frisk’s waist possessively, “And if you try to touch her again, I’ll kill ya’.”

The monster scrambled to its feet and ran off, tail between its legs.

Sans grumbled and let go of the girl’s collar, wrapping his arm around her neck loosely and resting his chin on the top of her head, “Sorry about that, sweetheart. I guess some people are just too stupid to avoid a bad thing when they see it.”

Frisk patted his arm, a small blush on her face, “It’s okay,” she mumbled, “but we need to keep going. We’re too close to stop now.”

Sans sighed and nodded, teleporting quickly. He waited just long enough for Frisk to get her bearings and then teleported again, repeating the process multiple times, until they ran into yet more trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go! I'm thinking there's only going to be one more chapter after this. I know, that's not very many chapters, but it's what the story called for, so oh well, I guess. I, once again, didn't have time to read over this chapter, so I apologize for any mistakes.


	4. Lost Souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk never thought the steaming plains of Hotland would hold secrets, but it turns out it holds the darkest of them all. And it seems there's something more going on in Asgore's castle than just soul collecting. Someone has a plan, and one poor fool can't help but fall into their conniving hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise, this chapter isn't late, the last one was just early. I started college on Wednesday and preparation for that was killer. I have had almost no time whatsoever for the past two weeks. Thus why it feels like this chapter is a few days late. But I hope you guys enjoy!

They had just landed in what looked like a theater when a familiar, metallic voice called from the top of the set, “Is that who I think it is? My long lost human love?”

They turned and looked up at Mettaton, who was dressed in a beautiful, pastel colored ball gown, the fabric shimmering as he moved. He began to sing, the lyrics about forbidden love and heartbreak, his voice jumping slightly as he rolled down the stairs of the make shift castle. As he continued to serenade the human, Sans got more and more uncomfortable, his glare growing a little darker with every l-word that was spoken.

When the song finally ended, Frisk clapped, “That was lovely, Mettaton. We would love to stay for the rest of the show, but we really must be going.”

The robot tutted and tapped his built in camera, “Don’t you remember, dear? Your face has been on camera again. I’m afraid that now I have to kill you.”

He pulled out a small remote and pressed a button, looking quite happy about the circumstances. A trap door opened underneath Frisk, a raging lava pool waiting beneath. The girl screamed and grasped for something to hold onto, her fingers unable to find any purchase on the smooth wood of the stage.Flowey screeched and scurried off her neck, flopping onto the stage. Sans yelped and grabbed her wrist, dragging her back up onto the flat surface, his eye flaring as he turned to Mettaton.

The robot looked smug, “What a hero, saving your little girlfriend! It’s too bad that she already belongs to someone else.”

Sans snarled, “And who would that be?”

Mettaton cackled and extended an arm behind the skeleton, wrapping it around Frisk and lifting her over his head, “Why, me, of course!”

He laughed manically as he zoomed away, his lovely dress flapping in the wind. Frisk yelled and bit his hand, yelping in pain as her teeth just met metal. The robot chuckled, “Should have thought that one through, darling.”

They flew over the rest of Hotland, Sans teleporting below them, bones flying around them as he tried to knock Mettaton down, but the robot dodged them with ease, his laughter getting louder as he watched the skeleton flounder, “Look at him, trying so hard to save you,” he said to Frisk, “Isn’t it adorable?”

Frisk glowered, “Why are you doing this?”

“For views, of course! Why else?”

A large intimidating building rose up in front of them, a low hum coming from it, “What’s that?” the girl asked, looking at it nervously.

“That’s the Core. It’s where we’re going to have our final battle. That is, unless your boyfriend can reach us first.” He laughed and flew through the window, lowering onto the ground, his arm still wrapped around Frisk. A couple of monsters were wandering around, but as soon as they saw Mettaton, they scattered. The celebrity ignored them and rolled into a large room that had obviously been set up for this exact moment. Large lights were placed around the room and several cameras were standing around the floor, everything set and ready to record.

Sans appeared in the door, his breathing heavy and sweat pouring down his face, “Sweetheart,” he yelled, running towards the door.

Mettaton snickered and clapped his hands, the door slamming shut before Sans could reach it, “Oh, what a pity,” the robot laughed, “You’re knight in shining armor isn’t here to save you. Whatever will you do?” he stripped off the dress and threw it to the side, rolling up to stand in the center of the cameras, yelling excitedly, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the last episode of all time!”

He dragged Frisk onto the stage with him, “With me today, I have the human that has been wandering around the underground causing chaos. Right now, you are going to witness a battle of epic proportions as I tear the soul out of this human and take it as my own. Yes, this will be the last episode of MTT TV, because I am moving on to bigger screens. With the human’s soul, I am going to cross over the barrier and become the absolute leader of the humans. They will love me so much, that they won’t be able to refuse me. But, because you have been a faithful and true audience, if not whiny and needy at times, I am giving you one last show.” He span Frisk around in a perfect twirl and dipped her, “A dance off! Whoever wins, leaves this room alive! But wait, that’s not all I’m leaving you with. I was just going to leave this for the humans, but I’m just too eager. Darling, if you would be a doll and flip the switch on my back, I’ll debut my new body for you all to enjoy! Plus, I wouldn’t want you to have an unfair advantage.”

He unwrapped Frisk and twirled around, exposing a large switch on his back. Frisk hesitantly walked up and flicked it, backing away quickly when the robot began to vibrate, white smoke billowing from his body, an excited laugh escaping him before he was engulfed by the smoke, “Oh my,” he cried, “It’s even better than I had imagined. “

The smoke cleared, revealing a tall, humanoid figure. He had on fashionable red, knee high boots. His waist was made from a clear glass and a pink, upside down heart was visible in it. His hair was absolutely perfect. Black with a few red highlights streaked through it. It fell in elegant waves, covering half of his pristine face. His four arms had grown slightly longer, his hands covered in shiny, red gloves. He grinned, and his teeth were sharp, perfectly straight and almost to shiny to look at. Four pitch black eyes snapped open and the transformation was complete.

Frisk gasped as she stared at him, his pure attractiveness intimidating. Mettaton cackled, “I see you like my new body. Alphys made if for me specially and I will admit, I am extremely pleased. I mean, look at these legs!” he performed a perfect high kick, “They’re stupendous! Just imagine the moves I can pull off with this!"

Suddenly, he leaped at Frisk, his shiny boot slamming into the ground where she had been standing, the stage cracking slightly. He giggled, “I didn’t think it was possible to love myself more than I already do, but I was wrong!” he stood up straight and hollered, “Now, let the dancing begin!”

A catchy tune started to play and Mettaton grinned, moving with the music. For the first few seconds, he just swayed back and forth, but then the beat dropped and the robot came to life. Frisk gasped. It was like watching a god. His movements were precise and full of emotion, each high kick and leap performed perfectly. The song hit its climax and Mettaton twirled around the stage, his eyes closed and his arms moving elegantly around him. The song came to an end and the robot came to stop in the center of the stage, his head bowed and his arms crossed over his chest.

Frisk clapped excitedly.

Mettaton looked at her and smirked, “Don’t be too excited, darling. It’s your turn.”

The blood left Frisk’s face and she gulped, stepping into the middle of the stage, her stomach trying to claw its way up her throat. She closed her eyes and waited for the music to start, sweat already breaking out on her forehead. She had never been good at dancing. She wasn’t nearly coordinated enough for it. Every time she tried to dance, she would just fall on her face. There was no doubt that she was going to lose.

As she stood there in the silence, her eyes closed and nothing but her own thoughts to bother her, she heard her father’s angry voice, his words slurred with alcohol, “You’re a useless piece of garbage who will never amount to anything, no matter how hard you try. You will always be a failure.”

The muse started and Frisk’s eye snapped open, the tune started off calm and quiet. Awkwardly, she started to dance, letting the music guide her the best it could. Her father’s words repeated in her head and her anger grew. All her life, she had been told how much of a screw up she was. But, down here, she had proven to herself that she wasn’t. She had made friends, saved people from themselves and from others. She wasn’t a screw up. She was determined.

The beat drop and she let her anger out, her feet slamming into the ground, the music telling her emotions where to go. She jumped around the room, the dance choppy and broken, nothing like Mettaton’s elegant ballet. She didn’t care, though. She needed this, and so she danced.

When the music ended, she came to a stop and opened her eyes, bending over and gasping for breath, looking up at Mettaton, who was staring at her in shock, tears streaming down his face. He brought his hands up to his chest, “I’ve never seen something so touching. The raw emotion is your movements, the anger in your spins. It was gorgeous.” He wiped his eyes and walked up to Frisk, grabbing her hand and holding it over her head, “Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like the human has made a liar of me. This will not be the last episode. I will be remaining down here while the human continues her journey.”

Frisk looked up at him in surprise, “Really? You’re not going to kill me?”

Mettaton scoffed, “Please. I might be a horrible person, but I keep my word. And I just want you to know, that, when you get back to the surface, you have everything it takes to become a star. Now, go. Fulfill your destiny. Defeat Asgore and return home. Oh, and one more thing. Alphys has been dealing with a problem lately. Maybe you should try going to the basement of her lab and seeing if you can fix it. I think we would all really appreciate it.”

The door slammed open and Sans ran in, immediately hugging Frisk, holding her tight and murmuring worried curses into her hair. She laughed and hugged him back, mumbling soft reassurances into his chest.

Flowey peeked out from under the skeleton’s hood and rolled his eyes, quickly burrowing back into the fluffy fabric.

Alphys ran in after Sans, stomping up to Mettaton and growling, “Why would you do something so reckless? You know this body isn’t stable yet! What is wrong with you?!”

The robot shrugged and one of his arms suddenly fell off, “Oh dear. That’s not a good sign.”

Alphys hissed and stepped back as the rest of his limbs fell off, landing on the ground in a metal heap. He sat and looked at them sadly for a moment before he turned back to Alphys, “Sorry, doc, but my batteries basically out too.”

Right as she said it, his eyes closed and he shut down with a click. Alphys stared at him in disbelief and screamed. Undyne appeared at the sound and walked in, looking amused, “Hey, Al, calm down,” she chided, placing a hand on the shorter monsters head, “It’ll be fine. I’ll help you carry him back to the lab and you can repair him while we watch Kissy Cutie. How does that sound?”

Alphys grumbled something, “That sounds really nice. But this time, I’m going to put a dagger in there somewhere. If he caused me this much trouble, he deserves to feel pain.”

Undyne laughed and they started picking up the robot pieces.

Sans grabbed Frisk and led her from the room, gesturing to an elevator, “Here you go, love. This leads straight up to Asgore. So, if you’re ready, let’s go."

Frisk looked back at Alphys, Mettaton’s request running through her head. She turned back to Sans and smiled apologetically, “I think there’s something I need to do for Alphys first. Can you take us back to the lab?”

Sans looked curious, but nodded, grabbing the girl’s hand. Before he could teleport, Flowey jumped off his shoulder and cried, “All that teleportation messed me up, so I’ll just wait here for you.”

Sans and Frisk both nodded and then they teleported, appearing right in front of the lab, “Thanks, Sans. Before Mettatonn opened the doors, he said something about Alphys needing help. He thought there might be something in her basement that was causing a problem.”

Sans looked nervous, “Sweetheart, be careful. Like I said before, Alphys isn’t a good person. She’s done horrible things in that place.”

Frisk nodded, “I know, Sans. But I can’t help her if I don’t know what’s going on.”

She walked into the building and started searching for the basement, looking behind things and searching for any sign of a hidden door. She walked past the bathroom and stopped, looking at the sign next to the door curiously, “I thought monsters didn’t need bathrooms,” she mumbled, carefully pushing the door open. She stepped back as an elevator was revealed and nodded, “And this must lead to the basement.”

Sans walked up next to her, an unhappy glint in his eye, “Are you really sure you want to do this? You have no idea what could be down there.”

“Yes, Sans, I want to do this. If it means I can help Alphys, then I’m going to do it.” She stepped into the elevator and waited for Sans to climb in next to her, pressing the button to go down.

The ride was silent, no music coming from the speakers. Sans coughed uncomfortably and turned to Frisk, “Sweetheart, I have to tell you something. I know what your plan is for Asgore and I’m not going to let you do it. You can’t just give up your soul to him like it doesn’t even matter. I know that you don’t like fighting, but please, try to stay alive when you fight him. He’s not going to let you give him mercy and he won’t listen to anything you have to say. So promise me that when we reach him, you won’t let yourself die. Please. I don’t know what I’ll do if you die.”

Frisk smiled and put a gentle hand on the skeleton’s cheek, “Sans, I can’t promise that I’ll come out alive, but I will promise that I’ll try. But you have to promise me something in return. When you get out of here and back onto the surface, don’t fight anyone. Just take Papyrus and go find a quiet place that’s away from everyone else, and just live, okay? Be happy with your brother and show mercy to everyone.”

The skeleton nodded and Frisk pulled his head down, placing a soft kiss on his forehead. The elevator came to a stop and she turned, linking their fingers together and leading him out into a dark and dusty waiting room, large heaps scattered about.

Sans paled at the sight and squeezed Frisk’s hand, his eye flaring and lighting up the room, Frisk gasping as she realized it too, her hand coming up to cover her mouth in horror.

All around them were giant piles of dust, tattered scraps of clothing mixed in with the particles. They wandered through the room, their steps kicking up some of the dust, the particles floating around their heads and landing in Frisk’s hair. A large doorway led out of the room, the doors lying broken on the floor. Frisk hesitantly walked through it, her face paling even more when she saw the bloodstains covering the floor and walls. She followed them, her hand still wrapped around Sans’, horror settling in her gut as she reached the next room, which held a large machine that was covered in dried blood, the brownish stains clearly visible against the dark metal. She walked up to the device and stroked it, taking in its odd, skull like shape. She peeked through one of the many gaps in it and stumbled back, a small cry escaping her. Sitting within the machine, it’s arms and legs still strapped down was the skeleton of small child. Sans looked at it sadly, pulling Frisk into a hug and whispering, “I told you, sweetheart. Alphys has done horrible things. We all have.”

Frisk felt tears begin to trickle down her face and she sniffed, pulling away from Sans, “Do you think she killed all those monsters back there, too?”

The monster nodded, “No one else could have.” He took the girl’s hand and led her down another hallway, “Since you’re down here, there’s something I need to show you that will help you understand.”

They walked into small office that was full of papers. Sans tossed a few piles off a desk and uncovered a TV, sliding a VHS tape into the slot and gesturing for Frisk to step closer. The TV clicked on and Alphys appeared, holding a clipboard that she couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting with. She coughed nervously and looked straight at the camera, “ _This is Doctor Alphys, here. It’s been about two months since I’ve become the royal scientist and Mettaton is doing good. He’s still upholding our agreement, so nobody will know that he’s actually just a ghost possessing a robot body. If anybody found out,”_ she shuddered at the thought, _“But anyway, people have started coming to me with a problem. More and more monsters are falling down and I’m not sure why. The Level of Violence, or L.O.V.E, hasn’t increased lately and all of the monsters that are falling down aren’t old enough for their souls to be weakened. I’ve been thinking about this problem and I think I’ve come up with a theory. On my L.O.V.E scanner there’s always been this little bar measure that says H.P. I’ve always just assumed that it was a branding thing, but I’m starting to think that it might actually mean something and I have an idea of what. If L.O.V.E means Level of Violence, then I think that H.P. means Hope. And the H.P. has been going down lately. I’m beginning to wonder if this has anything to do with the fallen._ ”

The tape ended and Frisk looked at Sans worriedly, “What does she mean by Level of Violence?”

“It’s the amount of violence that every monster performs each day. I don’t know why, but the royal scientist before Alphys thought it would be a good thing to record. Turns out he was right.” He slid in another tape and Frisk settled in to watch.

_“Alphys here again. I’ve managed to collect all of the fallen monsters and have told everyone that if anymore appear to send them to me. Ever since they got here, they’ve been acting funny. They don’t like the human I have trapped and avoid him at all costs, even locking themselves in cabinets if he walks by. I’m not too worried about it. He won’t be around for much longer. I’ve almost extracted all of his determination and, unless my theory is wrong, once I take the last of it, he’ll die. It will be interesting to see what his soul looks like without its basic property.”_

“What’s determination?”

“In her studies of the human souls, Alphys discovered something she called determination residing in each one. It appeared to be the thing that made up the soul and thus the stuff that holds you humans together. She, of course, immediately wanted to test on the souls, but Asgore forbade it. He made her wait for the next human to fall down before she could do her experiments. That kid is probably the skeleton we saw back there. The machine he was in is called a Determination Extractor and it sucks the determination out of you. And, like Alphys said, without determination, you die.” He slid the next tape in.

_“It’s Doctor Alphys again and I have some good and bad news. The good news is that the extraction was successful. I have all of the determination and the human soul was undamaged by it. It was pure white, unlike the other human souls, but I believe it will still work to break the barrier. The bad news is that the monsters have continued to fall. Even in this place of safety, where nothing is here to harm them, their H.P. continues to disappear. But I have an idea that I’m going to test out today."_

Sans slid another tape in.

_“Alphys here. The tests are working so far. I’ve been inserting small doses of determination into each monster and their H.P. is returning. It’s happening slowly, but better late than never, right? They’re all thanking me for saving their lives and I’ve got to admit, if this is all the royal scientist does, I could get used to this.”_

Another tape was inserted.

_“Everything is going wrong. I don’t know what to do anymore. The determination is taking over and I don’t know how to stop it.”_

Sans hesitated before he slid the last tape in, a sadness coming into his eyes as he pressed play. The tape started up like usual. Alphys was sitting in front of the camera, but she wasn’t looking at it, nor was she talking. It was several minutes into the tape before she spoke, her voice wet and broken, _“I screwed up. The tests went terribly wrong. On the third day of the determination insertions, the fallen monsters began telling me that they felt strange. I didn’t listen to them, just told them that it was just the determination doing its job. But on the fourth day…”_ she sucked in a shaky breath and was silent for a few moments, _“On the fourth day, they started to melt. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to separate them, but they refused to apart from each other. They ended up sticking to each other, melting into these horrible amalgamations. They cried for me to kill them, to end their suffering, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at them. But then they started trying to escape, their combined bodies stronger than any monster I had ever seen. I chained them up, locked them in cells, washed them down the drain, but nothing stopped them. They were just to determined. Eventually, they got fed up with me and massed together, using their combined strength to break the door down. I killed them all before they could reach the elevator. They turned to dust like any other monster, but they thanked me, their voices pain free for the first time since I had created them.”_ At this point, tears were streaming down her face, sobs ripping their way up her throat as she spoke, _“This all happened almost a month ago, but I can still hear their moans, see their bodies turn to dust, hear their voices thanking me for killing,” she hugged herself, “What kind of person creates something that thanks you for killing it?”_ she looked up at the camera desperately, _“No one can know of the things I’ve done. If anyone were to find out, Undyne would break up with me and Asgore would surely kill me. But I’m recording this because if there is anyone out there who cares enough to come down here, they deserve to know the truth. And I just hope that they don’t hate me to much when they learn it.”_

The TV clicked off and Frisk stared at it sadly, tears trickling from her eyes, “Poor Alphys.”

Sans shook his head, “Even after seeing that, you still feel bad for her. Frisk, you heard from her own lips what she did. How can I you feel bad for her?”

“Because, Sans, maybe she did only accept the fallen monsters because she wanted the attention healing them would bring, but she did try to do the right thing. I’m not saying she’s a good person, because she’s not. No one who is willing to kill a child the way she did can ever be considered a good person, but I don’t believe in bad people, Sans. No, she’s not a good person, but she honestly felt bad for what she did. And as far as I’m concerned, that doesn’t make her a bad person.”

A small sniffle from behind the door caught their attention and they whirled around, a bone appearing next to Sans. Alphys squeaked and fell out from behind the door, her eyes wide and full of tears. Sans growled and dismissed the bone, “What are you doing here?”

The small monster quickly stood up and dusted herself off, looking bashful, “I heard someone come down here, so I followed you. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when I saw you come to look at the tapes, I couldn’t possibly face you,” her gaze landed on Frisk and her bottom lip wobbled, “So you don’t hate me? Even though I put so many through so much pain?”

The girl smiled gently and hugged the small monster, “No, Alphys, I don’t hate you. I think you just made a few mistakes that you need to talk about. If you’re still having nightmares, you should tell someone about this. You should tell Undyne about this. She won’t hate you either, I promise.”

Alphys shook with silent sobs and Frisk gently led her back to the elevator, letting Sans climb in before she pressed the up button, one still wrapped around the dinosaur’s shoulders. When they reached the main floor, Alphys stood up straight and wiped her eyes, smiling at Frisk, “Thanks, Frisk.” She walked out of the elevator and yelled, “Undyne! I need to talk to you!”

Frisk and Sans quickly left, leaving the two monsters to figure things out. They stopped outside of the lab and Frisk sighed, “Now the only one left is Asgore.”

Sans nodded, “Yep. We’re almost done, sweetheart. What do you say we hurry and get this nightmare over with?”

They teleported back to the Core, the low humming bouncing around in Frisk’s head. Sans opened the elevator and let her climb in first, stepping in after her and pressing the button, leaning against the far wall as they waited for the slow ride to be over.

When they got to the top, Sans rolled his eyes as he stepped out of the elevator, “Asgore’s added more to his castle. This elevator used to take you straight to the great hall. Good thing you’ve got me, right, babe?”

Sans blushed as he realized what he said and Frisk smirked, “That’s right, love.”

The flustered skeleton grumbled something and teleported, landing them in a pile of dead flowers in the throne room, where the king was sitting on his throne, his bearded chin resting on a clawed hand, his purple cape slung over one arm rest and his pure white fur slightly ruffled as he stared into space. He sat up straight when the two appeared, his small, red eyes narrowing into a glare, “What are you doing here?” he snarled.

Sans raised his hands in a peaceful motion, “Calm down there, your highness. I brought you something.” He nudged Frisk forward, “She said that she wanted to fight you.”

Asgore smirked and stood, his cape falling behind him elegantly, “If the human wishes to fight, then we will fight. Come, human, I know the perfect place for our battle. Skeleton, you stay here. Your services are no longer needed.”

He turned and walked through a door in the back of the room, his large shoulders barely squeezing through and his long horns scraping against the top of the doorway. He led Frisk down a long hallway that was dimly lit by metal sconces. She looked around at the stone walls, her hope slowly fading as they wandered farther into the cold castle. She gulped as the king stopped and turned into a small room that shimmered with light, a quiet thrum emitting from it.

“Come, human. There is no reason to fear. It is only the barrier.”

She hesitantly walked into the room, looking around in amazement as the barrier lit up, light flowing across it before it darkened again, the thrum happening in rhythm with the light.

Asgore stood in front of the barrier, his large form intimidating in front of the shifting light, “This is the barrier, the cursed wall that keeps us monsters trapped here underground. Only with the power of seven human souls can it be broken. You are the seventh, the final piece needed to free the monsters and gain control of the surface. With your soul, and the help of the other six, I will become a god and will free this world of humanity.” In front of him, six small jars appeared in front of him, five of them filled with a small, colorful heart. The last one was empty. Asgore stared at the gap where another jar should be in horror, “The sixth soul,” he murmured, “Where did it go?”

“Are you talking about this?” a high pitched voice called, causing Frisk and Asgore to turn to the door, their eyes widening when they saw Flowey, a jar holding a small, white heart wrapped in his roots.

“Flowey?” Frisk whispered, staring at the flower, a feeling of betrayal digging at her gut.

The flower grinned at her, “Hey, Frisk. Sorry I never told you about this, but I didn’t know how you’d react. Although, it wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve already guessed. See, Frisk, because I’m a plant, I don’t have a soul of my own. I don’t feel things like you do. I only stayed with you as long as I did because I knew you could get me to the souls. I just need one. And see, I even took the defective one. There’s no harm being done to anyone. I just want to feel things again. I can remember what it was like, back when I was a normal kid, but every day, the memory gets weaker and fuzzier. I don’t want that memory to go away, Frisk. So you see why I need this, right?”

Frisk shook her head, “Flowey, you can’t take a soul that isn’t yours. It’s not right.”

The plant sneered at her, his grip on the jar tightening, “That’s what I thought you would say. I knew you wouldn’t understand, Frisk. You go on and on about helping people, but when it comes to your friends, it’s like our problems aren’t even there. You’re more likely to help a random stranger than your own best friend,” his grip continued to tightened and small cracks began to appear in the jar, spreading over the glass, “You try so hard to be a good person, but you’re not. You’re no better than any other monsters down here. All that you’re good for, Frisk, is being a piece of garbage, just like your little boyfriend.”

Frisk gritted her teeth, “Flowey, we can figure something out for your soul, but you can’t take another person’s soul. It’s not okay, Flowey. It turns you into nothing more than a petty thief.”

Asgore chuckled as he watched the exchange, “Human, you are wasting your breath. He has stabbed you in the back and there is nothing you can say that will help him now. He has made his decision. Let him be.”

Frisk turned and snapped at the king, “You shut up! You’re not much better than he is right now. You stabbed your entire people in the back when you started the stupid war, so you have no room to talk.”

Asgore growled, “Why you-” he was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass.

Frisk whirled around, her mouth open in horror as she watched the jar shatter, Flowey’s face stretching in surprise, both their gazes following the white heart as it fell, time seeming to slow down. Finally, it landed on the flower and there was a flash of bright light. Frisk stumbled backwards, her arms coming up to shield her face, a horrible high pitched squeal filling the room.

When the light had subsided, Frisk slowly lowered her arms, staring at where her flower friend had been just moments before. In his place stood a hideous creature. Its arms were large cactus like appendages, huge spikes sticking from them, large, deadly claws glinting at the end of each. Its face was patchy and malformed, tuffs of white fur sticking out in random places, the eyes too big for its head, the nose almost nonexistent and the mouth curved unnaturally. Its neck was thicker than it should have been, an extra layer of muscle sitting beneath the green tinted skin. Its legs were angled strangely, the knees bent in odd positions, giving the creature a slouching, limping gait. It smiled at Frisk, “See? I can feel, Frisk! There’s so many emotions that I forgot about.” The creature stopped, a look of confusion coming onto its face, “Wait, what’s happening. There’s something wrong, Frisk. I don’t know what…” its voice changed, Flowey’s confused voice being replaced by a hate filled scream, anger dripping from every word, “Hello, Frisk,” it spat, “Have you enjoyed your time playing with the monsters? I hope you have, because I’m going to kill them all. They destroyed me. I did nothing to them, and they tore out my very being. I have no determination left. The only thing holding my soul together right now is the absolute and complete hatred I feel for these beasts. Only when they are all dead will I vanish.”

Frisk looked at the creature, wide eyed, “You’re going to commit mass genocide?”

“That’s right!” the creature cried happily, “With the other five souls, I will have enough power to destroy everything in the underground. And then, I’ll just take your soul and break the barrier."

“And then what?” Frisk asked, anger growing inside her, “Once you’ve murdered hundreds of people, then what will you do? The humans won’t accept you, not when you look like monster.”

“Then I’ll just kill them too.”

Frisk glared at the creature, “I won’t let you. I have worked too hard to save these guys. I’m not just going to let you waltz in and destroy them. If you want to end the world, you have to get through me first.”

The creature shrugged and started walking towards her, raising one clawed hand, “That won’t be problem, I assure you.”

It slapped Frisk to the side, sending her flying without even blinking. She slammed into the barrier, hissing as her head cracked against the thrumming surface. Asgore stepped in front of the creature, his expressions grim, “You may have no problem killing a weak human girl, but I am not weak.”

The creature sneered and back handed him, its claws tearing into his chest, “Aren’t you? See, Asgore, even with just one human soul, I am still ten times stronger than you are.”

The king growled and pulled out a giant, red trident, ignoring the dust slowly trickling from the gash in his chest. The creature smiled and jumped at him, driving its claws into his neck, slashing and slicing as the king stabbed it with his weapon, grunts of pain escaping him with every blow the creature landed on him. Soon, the creature stopped and stepped back, smirking down at its handy work.

Asgore was crumpled on the ground, more dust than monster, his trident lying uselessly beside him, his chest heaving for breath that wasn’t going to come. He stared up at the creature in horror, the realization of what it was coming over him. The creature smirked, “That’s right, Asgore. I am The Angel of Death and I will make the underground go empty.”

Frisk watched as Asgore turned to dust, his eyes finding hers, pleading for her to stop this horrible evil that had been released. She slowly stood and faced the creature, but it just shrugged and turned away, limping over to the line of jars and breaking them open, absorbing each soul as it went, its form growing taller as it went and its features becoming more normal. Its knees straightened out so it walked without a limp, the patchy fur on its face covered more, giving it a more elegant look. However, its eyes were still too big and its mouth was still weird, its nose now completely gone, the nostrils just slits in its face.

It turned back to Frisk and smiled hungrily, “You’re the only one left, Frisk. So now you get to decide. Do you want to join us now, or after you watch all of your precious monster buddies die?”

Frisk glared at the creature, “Neither. I’m stopping you, here and now.”

The creature laughed, “But, Frisk, I thought you didn’t believe in violence. Just mercy and kindness. So how exactly are you going to stop me when you can’t fight me?”  
“I don’t need to fight you. I just have to convince Flowey too.”

“Flowey?! The little flower? Right. Uh, he’s dead. See, when a monster dies, their family takes their dust and spreads it on something that the dead monster cherished. Then, the dead monster’s aura becomes infused into that thing. Flowey forgot to mention a little fact about himself. He used to be a real boy, a monster child who ran and played and enjoyed having a soul. But then, one day, something terrible happened. A human fell into the underground and tricked the little monster boy. He let the human kill themselves and then he absorbed their soul and went to the surface to collect six more so that he could break the barrier and make Mommy and Daddy proud of him. Of course, because the little monster boy was kind, he took the human’s body with him. But the humans on the surface didn’t like that. They thought the little monster boy had killed the human and they attacked, throwing spears and fire and all sorts of sharp things at him. This is when the trickster human awoke and fought for dominance over the little monster boy. In desperation, the little monster boy ran away, his soul nearly shattered and his body already turning to dust. The parents of the little monster boy were heartbroken when they stepped out of their great big bedroom, only to see the little monster boy, the trickster human still in his arms, fall into a patch of golden flowers and turn to dust. Have you guessed who the little monster boy is yet?”

Frisk looked at him in disbelief, “Are you serious? You expect me to play a guessing game with you?”

“If you want to stay alive for just a little bit longer, yes, I am. Now guess.”

Frisk thought about everything she knew about Flowey, and realized that wasn’t much. She didn’t even know he hadn’t always been a flower until just barely. She stared at the creature helplessly, its horns seeming to be growing slowly, its floppy ears looking a little bit fuzzier.

Toriel appeared in Frisk’s mind and she gasped, staring at the creature in shock, “Flowey was Toriel’s son?”

The creature looked disappointed, “I was hoping I would be able to tell you while I killed you. Oh well. I still get to kill you at least.”

“Woah, woah, wait! I answered your question correctly! You can’t kill me now!”

“Ah, see, here’s the thing. I can kill you now, because I never I wouldn’t. You just assumed that I wouldn’t because that’s how your world has worked so far. That’s not how my world works."

“Well, that sounds like a pretty crap world to me,” a low voice growled from the doorway, Sans appearing, his eye flared and bones at the ready. He faltered when he saw the creature, the unnatural look of it setting him off slightly. He stepped around the creature and over to Frisk, “What did I miss exactly? That thing looks like a whole lot a weird.”

Frisk didn’t take her eyes off the creature, “That’s Flowey, or it was. He absorbed one of the souls and it took over and absorbed the other five. It killed Asgore, too.”

Sans growled, “I see. Then we’re going to need heavier artillery.” He dismissed the bones and his eye glowed brighter, a large shape taking form behind him. Frisk whirled around to stare at it, her jaw gaping open. A humongous animal like skull was hovering behind them, rows of sharp teeth in its gaping maw and large, empty eyes staring into her. Sans chuckled at her amazement and clenched his fist, the skull opening its mouth wider and forming a large, red ball of pure magic. A high pitched hum began to come from the ball and Sans pointed at the creature, the skull aiming the ball at it and then firing, a long stream of magic ramming into the creature, making it stumble back and shriek in pain.

The creature fell to the ground, groans of pain coming from it as it clutched the spot Sans had it, a hole gaping in its chest. It raised its head and hissed at the skeleton, “You pathetic whelp. You will pay for this.”

The hole in its chest began to heal and Frisk ran up to the creature quickly, ignoring Sans’ shouts of protest. She drew her hand back and slapped the creature, its head whipping to the side painfully, “Flowey, I know you’re in there and I am not against hitting you again. I may not believe in violence, but I most definitely believe in slapping. Now get out here before I slap you again.”

The creature turned to her and she looked into its eyes, her hope that Flowey was actually alive disappearing when she didn’t recognize the gaze, “I’m sorry, miss,” the creature said, the voice quiet and kind, “your friend really is dead. The white soul killed him when he took over. Your friend’s soul just wasn’t strong enough to hold up against him. But we’ll do what we can to help.”

The creature shook its head and the blank, lifeless stare returned. Frisk was once again tossed across the room, Sans catching her before she hit anything, “Very clever, hitting me when I’m down, talking to the others when I’m distracted. Well, I can assure you that that won’t happen again. Now, let’s just get this thing over with so that you can stop worrying about and so that I can finally finish off this horrible world.”

The creature stood and brushed itself off, picking a small piece of ash off its shirt, grinning at the human. Suddenly, it froze, its eyes widening. It stumbled back and raised a hand to its head, looking confused, “What are you doing? No, you’re supposed to be working with me. You hate them just as much as I do. We need to bring them justice and make sure they feel our pain. You all died at their hands. How dare you try to save them.” He stopped for a moment and seemed to be listening to someone, “She’s practically one of them. You shouldn’t feel any guilt at killing her. She doesn’t care that these monsters killed us. She’s in love with one of them for goodness sake!”

The creature’s other hand came up and it clutched its head, a terrible noise coming from its mouth and it convulsed, “NO!” it yelled, “I will not give up!” It struggled with itself for several minutes, Sans and Frisk watching in horror. Suddenly, it stopped, its arms dropping to its sides and its head falling backwards, a couple of tears falling from its eyes, “I just wanted to bring justice to the world,” it whispered, “Is that such a bad thing?” its fingers began to crumble, the appendages slowly turning to dust. Frisk ran up to it, reaching a hand out and trying to grab its arm, tears filling her eyes. The creature simply crumbled under her touch, its arm turning to dust. She sobbed, “Flowey!” she cried, trying to grab more of the creature, “Flowey, no! Please! Don’t leave me! Please!”

Sans came up behind the girl and grabbed her, turning her around and hugging her tight, her hands coming up and grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, tears pouring down her face. The skeleton watched the rest of the creature disappear and sighed, holding the girl tighter as the five remaining souls floated around them.

“Why,” she cried, “Why did he have to take the soul? We could have figured something out! He could have had my soul!”

Sans shushed her gently, “He wanted to love you, sweetheart. You’re so good and kind and he just wanted to feel all the love he had for you. And I’m sure that he felt all of that in his last moments. And do you know what he would say if he were here, right now?”

Frisk looked up at him, “What would he say, Sans?”

The skeleton pressed his teeth to her forehead and whispered, “I love you.”

Frisk sobbed, her hands coming up to cover her face and leaned into Sans, the skeleton wrapping his arms around her again, pressing his face into her hair, a few tears escaping his own eyes.

They stayed like that for a long time, until Frisk finally stopped, her eyes red and puffy. She turned to the souls and smiled sadly, “Thank you for helping us. I’m sorry that you had to fight one of your own.”

The green heart floated up to her, “It’s okay, Frisk. It’s a sad thing, having to fight a friend, but sometimes, it’s better for both parties involved. Your friend is now at peace and no longer has to suffer the pain of not having a soul and our friend can finally accept what happened to him and move on. They are both in better places now.”

Frisk sniffed, “What are you guys going to do now?”

The green heart turned to the other hearts and nodded, “If you would let us, we would like to stay here. I don’t think any of us are quite ready to move on yet and we only have six souls now, so we can’t break the barrier. But we would like to be here when another human comes along so that we can.”

Frisk looked surprised, but nodded, “I don’t see any problem with you staying. Sans?”

The skeleton shook his head, “I’m good with it. We’ll have to find more jars, but I don’t think that will be a problem. I’m sure there’s plenty in this old castle.”

The hearts swirled around happily and Sans and Frisk turned to the barrier, watching as the light shimmered through it.

“It’s too bad the barrier couldn’t be broken,” Sans commented, “Everybody was looking forward to getting out of this place.”

Frisk nodded, but watched the light thoughtfully, “It is, but at the same time, I don’t think monsters are ready to return to the surface yet. They’re getting there, but they’re all still healing from open wounds. We all are.”

Sans looked at her fondly and took her hand, linking their hands together, “I’m guessing you’re going to be the one guiding us down the path of healing?”

Frisk smiled at him, “Every step of the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, the final chapter. It was super fun to write this story and I was so surprised when people actually liked it. I didn't expect anyone to really read it, much less actually give feedback on it. So thank you so much for being here and being so kind. The end was probably the hardest thing I've ever written, and it's still a little off, I think, but it follows the theme of the rest of the story, so I'd say it's a pretty good way to say goodbye to this tale.  
> Again thank you so much for reading!


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